The lifeboat escorted the yacht, which was at this stage under sail, on its passage to North Harbour in Cape Clear.
WHILST on an exercise on Monday evening, Baltimore RNLI was called to go to the assistance of a yacht with one person on board, near Cape Clear Island, off Baltimore.
The volunteer lifeboat crew were on exercise south of Baltimore Harbour at 8.50pm when the Irish Coast Guard requested them to go to the assistance of a 23ft yacht north of Cape Clear Island. The yacht, with one person on board, was having engine difficulty.
The Baltimore all-weather lifeboat with six volunteer crew members aboard, including coxswain Kieran Cotter, mechanic Micheal Cottrell and crew members Ronnie Carthy, David Ryan, Don O’Donovan and Jim Griffiths, arrived on scene at 9.08pm.
The lifeboat escorted the yacht, which was at this stage under sail, on its passage to North Harbour in Cape Clear. Conditions in the area at the time were relatively calm with a westerly force 3 to 4 wind and a 0.5m swell.
On approach to the harbour, the smaller Y-boat was launched from the all-weather lifeboat with crew members Jim Griffiths and David Ryan aboard. This was to provide assistance to the vessel in entering and berthing within the harbour. Once the yacht was secured in the harbour, the Y-boat was recovered and the lifeboat departed Cape Clear at 9.42pm.
Prior to returning to the station in Baltimore, the lifeboat made its way out to the Fastnet Rock lighthouse to see the Baltimore RNLI crew racing ‘Juggerknot’ in the Beaufort Cup. The Beaufort Cup is a series of races for military and rescue service crews as part of Volvo Cork Week.
Speaking following the call-out, Kate Callanan, Baltimore RNLI’s volunteer lifeboat press officer, said: ‘Even though the yacht was able to make its own way to Cape Clear, the owner did the correct thing in requesting assistance given that he had no properly functioning engine and wasn’t sure how he would manage entering the harbour on his own.
‘If you get into difficulty on the water or along the coast, call 999 or 112 and ask for the Coast Guard.’