There have been many extraordinary rescue efforts in Irish waters over the past year. One which few involved will ever forget lasted 22 hours, close to Downpatrick Head in north Mayo this past September.

It took 14 hours alone to set up the gear to reach the 40-year-old caver trapped at the back of a sea cave, and it involved some 40 members of the Irish Cave Rescue Organisation (ICRO), with support from four Coast Guard units and the RNLI Ballyglass lifeboat.

Cave rigging - (above and below) the scene at Downpatrick Head in Co Mayo where the Irish Cave Rescue Organisation rescued the individual, supported by the Coast Guard Units from Killala/Ballyglass/Killybegs/Achill, the Ballyglass RNLI Lifeboat, National Ambulance Service, Civil Defence, County Fire Service and An Gardai Siochana, including the Gardai Water Unit

Coincidentally, it was close to where Ballina diver Michael Heffernan lost his life during a cave rescue in October 1997 - a loss remembered recently at a memorial event attended by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris at Lacken pier.

The Irish Cave Rescue Organisation team at the successful finish of the Downpatrick Head rescue in north Mayo in 2022

Brian MacCoitir, ICRO warden for the southwest region, held an audience in Tully’s Bar spellbound recently when he outlined the details of the multi-agency effort during one of the Kinvara adventure talks in Co Galway.

MacCoitir spoke to Wavelengths, and first recalled how the experience of the casualty as a caver was key.

Exiting the free-dive sump at Downpatrick Head

A man has been rescued from a sea cave on the Co Mayo coast in which he has been trapped for close to 24 hours.

A multi-agency rescue operation had been awaiting low tide this afternoon (Sunday 18 September) to retrieve a man trapped in a sea cave at Downpatrick Head since the previous evening.

According to The Irish Times, the man in his 40s had been exploring the cave with a woman on Saturday (17 September) when they became trapped by the rising tide and were swept off a ledge by a wave surge.

The woman was taken from the water by kayakers who responded to the emergency and then to safety while the man climbed onto a ledge where he remained overnight.

Local gardaí say the man maintained contact with rescuers from the Irish Coast Guard and RNLI who were hopeful of gaining access to the sea cave with this afternoon’s forecast low tide.

RTÉ News reports that rescuers this afternoon brought the man to the mouth of the cave, where he was fitted with a buoyancy suit before being airlifted to hospital by the Sligo-based Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 118.

This story was updated at 5pm with additional information.

The Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series is set to return to Ireland on 12 September, with Downpatrick Head in Co Mayo hosting the fourth stop on this year’s international circuit.

It’s one of the four new locations for the elite cliff diving competition, along with spots in France, Norway and the Caucasus.

It also marks the fifth Irish edition of the event — following three visits to Inis Mór in the Aran Islands and 2019’s contest in Dun Laoghaire, which attracted an estimated 145,000 spectators.

Elite divers representing 18 nationalities will take part in the 2021 series, which kicks off at Cap Dramont, south-west of Cannes on France’s Mediterranean coast, on 12 June.

The athletes then head to Oslo in Norway (14 August) and Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina before their Irish stop, continuing on to Polignano a Mare in southern Italy (26 September) and Baku in Azerbaijan (16 October).