Emergency callout for Lough Derg lifeboat

At 5.15pm on Sunday (September 20th), as Lough Derg RNLI volunteers were arriving for a training exercise, Valentia Coast Guard requested the lifeboat to launch to assist four people on a 30ft cruiser, who reported their boat aground by Dromaan Harbour on the County Clare shore.     

At 5.19pm the lifeboat Jean Spier launched with helm Owen Cavanagh, crew Keith Brennan and Tom Hayes on board. Visibility was very good, and the lake flat calm. When the cruiser was not located at Dromaan Harbour, Valentia Coast Guard supplied the lifeboat with the telephone number for the casualty vessel. Lifeboat crew asked the casualties to describe what they could see around them and from their descriptions, the lifeboat volunteers accurately determined that they were at Skehanagh, north of Illaunmor on the Tipperary shore. 

When the lifeboat arrived on scene they found all on board safe and unharmed and wearing their lifejackets. An RNLI volunteer transferred across to the casualty vessel. Once he was satisfied that the vessel was not holed, he set up for a tow. The lifeboat took the cruiser off the rocks and out into safe water, where an RNLI volunteer checked that its drives and rudder were in good working order. 

The lifeboat took their crew member back onto the lifeboat and the cruiser continued its passage. Liam Maloney, Lifeboat Operations Manager at Lough Derg RNLI advises boat users to “study your charts and stay on the navigation channel when passage planning”.