#loughdergrnli – This afternoon at the request of Valentia Coast Guard, Lough Derg RNLI Lifeboat went to the assistance of two people who were in difficulty after their 25ft cruiser grounded on rocks inside the area known locally as the Goat Road, midway down the lake.

The lifeboat launched at 14.50hrs with Helm Eleanor Hooker, Owen Cavanagh and Ben Ronayne on board.  Winds were easterly, Force 4. It was cold with sleet and snow showers.

The lifeboat located and was alongside the cruiser within thirteen minutes of launching. The two people on board were safe, unharmed and warm. They had mis-read their charts and glanced off a rock. While they were dealing with that situation, they became disorientated and passed the wrong side of the navigation mark and grounded.

An RNLI crew member went on board and assessed the boat and once it was established that it was not holed, the cruiser was taken off the rocks and out into safe water.  A line which had fouled the boat's propellors, was removed with some difficulty.  The drives, propellors and rudder were checked again and and found to be undamaged.  En route to Dromineer, two RNLI members remained on board to make sure the skipper and his crew were certain of their charts and course.

Lifeboat Operations Manager, Pat Garland, said that 'coming up to the holiday season, it is important for lake users to be familiar with their charts, and not to deviate from the recognised routes'.

The Lifeboat returned to station and was ready for service again at 16.30hrs.

#rnli – Lough Derg RNLI Lifeboat was launched to assist two Kayakers in difficulty in near gale winds at Terryglass at the northern end of Lough Derg.

Yesterday afternoon Lough Derg RNLI lifeboat was launched at the request of Valentia Coast Guard to assist two kayakers who were in difficulty in Force 6/7 winds after launching their 7ft open canoe from Terryglass Harbour on the Tipperary shore.

The lifeboat launched at 13.58hrs with Helm Eleanor Hooker, David Moore and Tom Dunne on board.  Winds were Southerly, Force 6 gusting 7 (28-35knots).  The lifeboat crew were informed that the kayakers, unable to control their canoe, were being blown across the lake by the strong winds.

The lifeboat located the two people at the entrance to Portumna Harbour, on the County Galway shore. They were both shaken by their ordeal, but unharmed. It was their first time to go afloat on Lough Derg. They had not dressed adequately for the conditions and needed to get warmed up. The kayak was secured on the shore at Portumna Harbour, and the two kayakers were taken on the lifeboat back to Terryglass Harbour, where they dried off and warmed up and returned to their car before collecting the kayak from Portumna Harbour.

Deputy Launching Authority Liam Maloney said that it is important to 'check the weather conditions before going out on the lake, dress appropriately and make sure to tell someone when you set off and what time you expect to return'.

The Lifeboat returned to station and was ready for service again at 15.15hrs.

#rnli – Lough Derg RNLI lifeboat was launched at the request of Valentia Coast Guard to investigate whether anyone was in difficulty on the lake, after they were informed that three sustained blasts from a whistle were heard from shore at Urra Point.

The lifeboat launched at 19:40 with Helm Eleanor Hooker, Ben Ronayne and David Moore on board.  Winds were northerly, Force 3.  The Gardai confirmed there were no reports of anyone overdue, although a lake boat had been seen departing Dromineer in the direction of Urra at around 17:00hrs.  The crew carried out a search along the Urra shoreline and released a white flare to light the search area.  The lifeboat then searched the water and shore around the Corragheen Islands and extended the search downwind of the initial search area in Dromineer Bay, where the crew launched a second flare.  Having found no evidence of a vessel or persons in distress, Valentia Coast Guard decided to stand down the lifeboat.

The Lifeboat returned to station and was ready for service again at 22.00hrs.

For the last couple of years, we've done some long-distance boating; indeed in 2011 we didn't get to Lough Derg until the end of September. So we decided that, this year, we were not going anywhere north of Portumna: we would spend the year down on Derg.

Here are some of my impressions of the season. Some of them I may be able to check later, by looking for statistics or reports; some can't be checked because there are no statistics.

Weather

My first impression is that summer ended some time around May, with relatively little sunshine after that.

Even the nature of bad weather seems to have changed: the Royal Canal ran out of water in Spring but the Shannon had rather a lot of water throughout the summer. From time to time reports came from upstream of strong flows that made navigation difficult; down on Derg, Killaloe seemed to have strong currents quite a lot of the time, with water being pulled down the headrace to Ardnacrusha.

Met Éireann's report for the summer (June, July, August) seems to support that view: rainfall above average, sunshine and temperatures below average. It also seemed to me that we had more northerly winds than usual: the south-westerlies didn't seem to be the prevailing winds. However, the report says nothing about winds.

Numbers

My second impression is that lots of people have disappeared: that very few boats were moving on the lake this year: it was as if we were back to the early 1980s. I'll get the traffic figures from Waterways Ireland later: they cover only passages through locks and moving bridges, so they don't say anything directly about lake traffic, but they do give an idea of volumes.

Now, I may not be the best judge of numbers of boat movements because, if I hear there's a big boaty event on, I go somewhere else. But there seemed to be times when there was nothing moving on the middle of the lake, except sailing boats racing from Dromineer, Garrykennedy or Mountshannon. There weren't even many jetskis or speedboats around.

There were rumours of larger boats being sold to overseas buyers and transported out of the country, but I don't know how to check that. Even checking the total number of Shannon boat registrations wouldn't help: as there is no annual registration fee, there is no incentive for former owners to de-register boats that have been sold.

Dromineer

My third impression is that shore-based activity has diminished too.

As we keep our boat in the Shannon Sailing marina in Dromineer, we don't often use the public harbour, but we drive by it en route to the marina. It seemed to me to be pretty lifeless. Numbers of visiting boats seemed to be down (while numbers of resident boats rose), as did numbers visiting by land. (I don't know of any source of statistics for this; if there is one I'd like to know.)

I imagine that the poor weather kept land visitors away, except on the few sunny days. But I don't think that the improvements made a few years ago — path, pebbles, seats and so on — have done much to attract people. Dromineer needs to do more to establish itself as a place to visit, with things for people to do when they get there.

Harbour hoggers

My fourth impression is that harbour-hogging — leaving boats in public harbours for more than the permitted numbers of days, instead of paying for berths in private marinas — is on the increase. I don't know of any statistics on this, although I suspect that Waterways Ireland may have some. Its staff do patrol the harbours and record registration numbers, occasionally applying stickers to errant boats, so I imagine that they keep records of the numbers.

The problem is that WI has very little power, under the current bye-laws, to do anything effective. It needs a simple, cheap method of imposing ever-increasing charges on harbour-hoggers — and of enforcing payment. Experience with both the household charge and the mineral oil tax suggests that drastic steps may be required.

Other privatisers

The same may apply to other services that WI provides. Its very welcome supply of electricity can at least be controlled, with charges paid by card. However, I suspect that, when water charges are introduced, WI will have to devise a method of charging for water. Whether or not it wants to subsidise boaters, it is unlikely to want to supply folk who drive to its harbours to fill barrels and bottles with water (I have photographed folk doing just that).

And then there's the rubbish problem. Bins have been removed from some harbours on the west side of Lough Derg; a WI notice says that it has a "Leave No Trace" policy, or some such thing. That doesn't explain why there are still bins at harbours on the east side; I suspect that the explanation is in different arrangements with different local authorities. However, overseas tourists (if there are any) are likely to find it a little inconvenient to bring their holiday rubbish home with them, especially if they're flying by Ryanair.

But you can see WI's problem: if it makes free bins available, folk will drive from miles around to avoid paying charges. So, given that Irish folk are unlikely to develop civic-mindedness in the near future, the best solution is to use smart-card controlled bins, with each opening of the lid traceable to the individual boat-owner (or camper-van-owner). The same cards could control the other services and provide WI with a way of tracing user movements.

Supply and demand

The problem with free services is that they're too good to last: the provider, especially if it gets its money from an overstretched state, eventually realises it can't continue to provide them for nothing. So, just as declining income and other pressures reduce demand for its product, Waterways Ireland may find itself imposing extra charges that further reduce demand. It is not clear that any marketing campaign can compensate for the economic pressures on the sector.

#loughderg – This weekend sees the gathering of the biggest of the keelboat one design fleets in Lough Derg for the annual freshwater keelboat regatta. For what is fast becoming a popular feature in the trailer sailor one design classes, Lough Derg Yacht Club is hosting a one design weekend for the Dragons, SB20's, Squibs and J80's.

The classes share the same race area but split between windward/leeward and trapezoid courses with a common start line.

The dragons assembled early on Friday with 2 races sailed and with a further 4 races today out of a 8 race series. Martin Byrne from the Royal St. George YC is clear ahead by the end of racing with a massive 11 point lead over RIYC rival Richard Goodbody. Martin counts 5 race wins in the 6 races sailed.

In the SB20 class 4 races sailed leaves the two front runners on tied points overnight with two first places and a second each for Ben Duncan and Peter Kennedy (RNIYC) each discarding a 10+ point race for 4 points nett, this being a somewhat familiar result between these two top boats. Further back James Gorman and Aidan O'Connell battle it out for 3rd but the Lough has proven a formidable challenge for all crews with the shifting and gusting southerly breeze. Who will emerge as overall leader is very much yet to be decided.

In the J80s Andrew Deacon is having it all his own way with 3 first places but discarding a Joint first (1.5). He is leading overall by 3.5 points to nearest rival Hetty Sanders with a 1.5,2,3.

At the time of writing the squibs overall was dependent on the outcome of a protest so were not available.

A beautiful October sunny day on Lough Derg, some more trying and difficult conditions tomorrow in the heartland of Ireland.

#The line up for the All Ireland Sailing championships has been released today for the annual event to be staged on Lough Derg on October 5th. The full entry list announced by the ISA is below.

Returning to defend his title will be 24–year old George Kenefick from Cork who narrowly beat four time Olympic sailor Mark Mansfield in a breezy climax in 2011.

Mansfield will also be competing next Friday representing the 1720 class but he will need to win one of the three spots available through the initial qualifier if he is to compete against Kenefick again for the title.

The format for the event was reviewed last year after complaints that some classes were excluded. There has been comment this year though that the new format left 20 classes fighting for three places but it appears from the list below that only eight classes are taking up the Qualification round invitation.

Returning for a second consecutive year will be 2012 Olympic 49er sailor Ryan Seaton. Seaton from Belfast Lough finished third in 2011. Also in the line up is Seaton's London team-mate Star keelboat sailor Peter O'Leary.

The youngest competitor at the event will be Fionn Lyden, fresh from winning the Junior All Ireland Sailing Championship in Schull last weekend.  

 Friday Qualification Series

Saturday Preliminary Series

#LOUGH DERG - RTÉ News reports that the body of a man in his 40s was recovered from Lough Derg on Friday night.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the Lough Derg RNLI lifeboat was launched to investigate an upturned speedboat in Youghal Bay near Garrykennedy on Thursday evening.

The 20ft vessel was said to have extensive damage to the outdrive and propellers, consistent with damage sustained while running.

The Killaloe unit of the Irish Coast Guard immediately launched a search and rescue operation in the area for any mossing persons, assisted by the Shannon coastguard helicopter.

There was no reports on shore of anyone overdue, and as of Friday attempts were ongoing to find out who might own the boat and who was on board at the time of the incident.

Divers with the Killaloe Search and Rescue Unit found the body some 30m from the boat and recovered it around 8pm on Friday. A post-mortem was scheduled to be carried out yesterday at Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.

#lifeboat – Lough Derg RNLI Lifeboat launched tonight to assist 4 people whose cruiser was grounded and who abandoned their vessel to a small tender.

On Friday evening August 3 at 17.25hrs, Lough Derg RNLI lifeboat was requested to launch to assist four persons who abandoned their vessel to a small tender, after the cruiser grounded in Carrigahorig Bay, near Terrglass at the northern end of Lough Derg.

The lifeboat with Helm Peter Clarke, Ger Egan and Ben Ronayne on board, were already afloat assisting with the ongoing search in Garrykennedy.  The lifeboat made way immediately to assist.  It is reported that all four persons are safe and well.  The rescue is ongoing.

#lifeboat – Last night at 21.19hrs, Lough Derg RNLI lifeboat was launched to investigate a vessel upturned in Youghal Bay, close to Garrykennedy. At 21.34hrs, the lifeboat launched with Helm Peter Clarke, Colin Knight and David Moore on board. Winds were southwesterly, Force 2, and visibility was good, but failing quickly with nightfall.

At 21.50 the lifeboat was alongside the upturned vessel, a 20ft speedboat.  It was reported to have extensive damage to the outdrive and propellers, consistent with damage whilst underway.  The lifeboat began a search of the area.  Meanwhile the Killaloe Coast Guard unit launched from their base and the Irish Coast Guard Search and Rescue Helicopter took off from their base at Shannon to assist in the search.

Lifeboat crew, committee members and volunteers set off in teams to search the shoreline. There were no reports of anyone overdue, and attempts are ongoing to discover who might own the boat.

An extensive search of the water and shoreline didn't reveal anything. The speedboat was taken to Garrykennedy and is being investigated by Garda specialists.

The search was called off and all teams returned to their bases. A search is underway this again this morning.

The Lifeboat returned to station and was ready for service again 01.00hrs.

Lifeboat Operations Manager, Charles Stanley Smith thanked everyone for their assistance on the search saying that he was 'extremely pleased with the level of co-operation by all of the emergency services on the lake, as well as offers of help from the public'.

#rnli – Lough Derg Lifeboat assisted 3 persons aboard a 27ft cruiser who got into difficulties after they believed they glanced off rocks.

Whilst out on exercise on Thursday evening July 26th Lough Derg RNLI lifeboat was requested by Valentia Coast Guard to assist 3 persons on board a 27ft crusier, who believed they had glanced off rocks and were is great distress.  The cruiser was located at the northern end of the lake, in Portumna.  At 20.00hrs the lifeboat, with Helm Eleanor Hooker, Dom Sharkey and Ben Ronayne on board made way immediately to their location.  They requested the Coast Guard to issue a Pan Pan requesting any vessels in the area to go to the cruiser's assistance. Winds were West southwest, Force 4 with a moderate swell.Visibility was very good.

At 20.29hrs, Valentia Coast Guard informed the lifeboat that the vessel had turned round and was making it's way back up river to Portumna Bridge. At 20.37hrs the lifeboat met the cruiser at the river near Portumna, where they were tied safely alongside.  The three persons were unharmed but greatly distressed.  They were reassured by crew and the boat was inspected for damage.  None was found.  Lifeboat crew continued to chat to the people, who when  calm made the decision to stay put for the night.

Helm Eleanor Hooker commended crew members Ben Ronayne and Dom Sharkey for the kind and gentle manner in which the dealt with very distressed persons.

The lifeboat returned to station and was ready for service again at 21.45