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Displaying items by tag: Hare Island

Galway RNLI’s volunteer crew were requested to launch by the Irish Coast Guard on Monday afternoon (22 April) to rescue a walker on Hare Island who was cut off by the incoming tide.

The request to launch came shortly before 2pm and volunteer crew Dave Badger, James Rattigan, David Oliver and Olivia Byrne launched the inshore lifeboat and were on the water around 10 minutes later headed to Hare Island, on inner Galway Bay, which is accessible to walkers at low tide.

Conditions at sea were good with good visibility thanks to the current spell of fine weather.

When the crew reached Hare Island, they located the casualty who was safe and well. The crew brought the casualty on board the lifeboat and returned to the lifeboat station at the New Docks.

Lifeboat helm Dave Badger said: “It was a good outcome today. The casualty didn't require any further medical treatment once we returned to the lifeboat station.

“The casualty raised the alarm when they realised that they were cut off by the tide and were unable to get off the island, and that was the right thing to do. If you get into difficulty or see someone in difficulty, please dial 999 or 112 and ask for the coastguard.”

Badger added: “Walking around coasts is a very safe activity most of the time. Our advice is to always take a means of calling for help and to check the weather and tides. Tide times and heights vary throughout the month and can easily catch you out if you haven’t checked them.”

Published in RNLI Lifeboats

#RNLI - Three young German visitors were rescued by Galway RNLI after getting stranded on Hare Island in Galway Bay yesterday afternoon (Thursday 26 July).

The three students were trapped on the island after the tide came in shortly before 12.30pm.

A passer-by on the shore spotted the group and dialled 999 for assistance. Galway RNLI’s lifeboat was subsequently called to the scene and arrived within 10 minutes.

The students were completely surrounded by water when the lifeboat arrived to assist them on board. They were then taken to Galway Docks in the city, where they are staying. They did not require medical assistance.

The lifeboat crew on this callout were helm Sean King, Cathal Bryne, Greg Cullen and Olivia Byrne, who said: “This highlights the dangers of going out to Hare Island when the tide is coming in.

“These young men got completely cut off in a short space of time. Luckily a diligent observer on the shore came to their assistance and contacted the emergency services straight away.”

Strandings are not an uncommon occurrence at the tidal island, with similar incidents in 2010, 2013, 2016 and last September.

Published in RNLI Lifeboats

#RNLI - Galway RNLI came to the rescue of three students who got stranded on Hare Island yesterday afternoon (Monday 13 May) after getting caught in the tide off Ballyloughane Beach.

The two young women and young man, in their late teens/early 20s, had gone for a walk and were spotted waving from the island by a local resident who contacted the emergency services and Galway RNLI.

Conditions at the time (around 4pm) were changeable with heavy showers.

Three volunteer members of the inshore lifeboat crew were working in the vicinity of the station at the time and launched the boat in six minutes.

The three students were picked up safely and brought back to the lifeboat station at Galway Docks where they were warmed up and given tea. They did not require medical attention.

The lifeboat crew on this callout were helm David Oliver, Dara Oliver, David Badger and Olivia Byrne.

Lifeboat shore crew John Bryne said: "The three students did the right thing waiting on the island and not attempting to get off."

It's not the first time that people have been stranded by the incoming tide on Hare Island, as Galway RNLI were called to a similar incident in September 2010.

Published in RNLI Lifeboats

Dublin Bay 21s

An exciting new project to breathe life into six defunct 120-year-old Irish yachts that happen to be the oldest intact one-design keelboat class in the world has captured the imagination of sailors at Ireland's biggest sailing centre. The birthplace of the original Dublin Bay 21 class is getting ready to welcome home the six restored craft after 40 years thanks to an ambitious boat building project was completed on the Shannon Estuary that saved them from completely rotting away.

Dublin Bay 21 FAQs

The Dublin Bay 21 is a vintage one-design wooden yacht designed for sailing in Dublin Bay.

Seven were built between 1903 and 1906.

As of 2020, the yachts are 117 years old.

Alfred Mylne designed the seven yachts.

The total voting population in the Republic's inhabited islands is just over 2,600 people, according to the Department of Housing.

Dublin Bay Sailing Club (DBSC) commissioned the boat to encourage inexpensive one-design racing to recognise the success of the Water Wag one-design dinghy of 1887 and the Colleen keelboat class of 1897.

Estelle built by Hollwey, 1903; Garavogue built by Kelly, 1903; Innisfallen built by Hollwey, 1903.; Maureen built by Hollwey, 1903.; Oola built by Kelly, 1905; Naneen built by Clancy, 1905.

Overall length- 32'-6', Beam- 7'-6", Keel lead- 2 tons Sail area - 600sq.ft

The first race took place on 19 June 1903 in Dublin Bay.

They may be the oldest intact class of racing keelboat yacht in the world. Sailing together in a fleet, they are one of the loveliest sights to be seen on any sailing waters in the world, according to many Dublin Bay aficionados.

In 1964, some of the owners thought that the boats were outdated, and needed a new breath of fresh air. After extensive discussions between all the owners, the gaff rig and timber mast was abandoned in favour of a more fashionable Bermudan rig with an aluminium mast. Unfortunately, this rig put previously unseen loads on the hulls, resulting in some permanent damage.

The fleet was taken out of the water in 1986 after Hurricane Charlie ruined active Dublin Bay 21 fleet racing in August of that year. Two 21s sank in the storm, suffering the same fate as their sister ship Estelle four years earlier. The class then became defunct. In 1988, master shipwright Jack Tyrrell of Arklow inspected the fleet and considered the state of the hulls as vulnerable, describing them as 'still restorable even if some would need a virtual rebuild'. The fleet then lay rotting in a farmyard in Arklow until 2019 and the pioneering project of Dun Laoghaire sailors Fionan De Barra and Hal Sisk who decided to bring them back to their former glory.

Hurricane Charlie finally ruined active Dublin Bay 21 fleet racing in August 1986. Two 21s sank in the storm, suffering the same fate as a sister ship four years earlier; Estelle sank twice, once on her moorings and once in a near-tragic downwind capsize. Despite their collective salvage from the sea bed, the class decided the ancient boats should not be allowed suffer anymore. To avoid further deterioration and risk to the rare craft all seven 21s were put into storage in 1989 under the direction of the naval architect Jack Tyrrell at his yard in Arklow.

While two of the fleet, Garavogue and Geraldine sailed to their current home, the other five, in various states of disrepair, were carried the 50-odd miles to Arklow by road.

To revive the legendary Dublin Bay 21 class, the famous Mylne design of 1902-03. Hal Sisk and Fionan de Barra are developing ideas to retain the class's spirit while making the boats more appropriate to today's needs in Dun Laoghaire harbour, with its many other rival sailing attractions. The Dublin Bay 21-foot class's fate represents far more than the loss of a single class; it is bad news for the Bay's yachting heritage at large. Although Dún Laoghaire turned a blind eye to the plight of the oldest intact one-design keelboat fleet in the world for 30 years or more they are now fully restored.

The Dublin Bay 21 Restoration team includes Steve Morris, James Madigan, Hal Sisk, Fionan de Barra, Fintan Ryan and Dan Mill.

Retaining the pure Mylne-designed hull was essential, but the project has new laminated cold-moulded hulls which are being built inverted but will, when finished and upright, be fitted on the original ballast keels, thereby maintaining the boat’s continuity of existence, the presence of the true spirit of the ship.

It will be a gunter-rigged sloop. It was decided a simpler yet clearly vintage rig was needed for the time-constrained sailors of the 21st Century. So, far from bringing the original and almost-mythical gaff cutter rig with jackyard topsail back to life above a traditionally-constructed hull, the project is content to have an attractive gunter-rigged sloop – “American gaff” some would call it.

The first DB 21 to get the treatment was Naneen, originally built in 1905 by Clancy of Dun Laoghaire for T. Cosby Burrowes, a serial boat owner from Cavan.

On Dublin Bay. Dublin Bay Sailing Club granted a racing start for 2020 Tuesday evening racing starting in 2020, but it was deferred due to COVID-19.
Initially, two Dublin Bay 21s will race then three as the boat building project based in Kilrush on the Shannon Estuary completes the six-boat project.
The restored boats will be welcomed back to the Bay in a special DBSC gun salute from committee boat Mac Lir at the start of the season.
In a recollection for Afloat, well known Dun Laoghaire one-design sailor Roger Bannon said: "They were complete bitches of boats to sail, over-canvassed and fundamentally badly balanced. Their construction and design was also seriously flawed which meant that they constantly leaked and required endless expensive maintenance. They suffered from unbelievable lee helm which led to regular swamping's and indeed several sinkings.

©Afloat 2020