Warm weather has drawn people to the water earlier in the season, but lifeguards not on duty until June.
CORK County Council is being urged to bring forward the beach lifeguard season to the month of May, after six swimmers had a lucky escape in Inchydoney Beach last Thursday afternoon, May 1st, after getting caught in a rip current.
It was only down to the heroics of two surf instructors from the nearby Inchydoney Surf School and a school teacher from Skibbereen that a tragedy was narrowly averted.
Speaking to The Southern Star, Colm McAuley of Inchydoney Surf School said two of his team had just completed a surf lesson and were packing up their gear at around 3pm when the alarm was raised.
‘Some girls ran up to them in a panic from the beach to tell them that their friends were in trouble. Two of my instructors and a teacher from a school group who were there for the surf lesson grabbed their surfboards and ran into the water,’ said Colm.
‘It turns out that some teenagers were out swimming and one of them got panicked, and his friends went out to rescue them. There were also two other adults, who also got into a panic, further into shore.’
Colm’s two surf instructors swam out with their surfboards to a group of four who were further out in the water, while the teacher went to the two adults closer to the beach.
‘The lads out further were screaming at this stage and they were just barely touching the sand. My guys got them up on the surfboards and calmed them down a bit. They were in shock too but thankfully they were all brought back to shore safely and they were lucky really.’
Bandon-based photographer Denis Boyle was on the beach at the time of the rescue, and said it was a dramatic moment when the three men went in to save the others in difficulty.
Cork County Council’s beach lifeguard team do not take up duty on West Cork beaches until the June bank holiday weekend.
Cover is initially for weekends for the month of June, before going to full-time for the months of July and August and the first two weekends of September.
Local Social Democrats Councillor Isobel Towse said this incident last Thursday has again highlighted the need to bring forward the lifeguard period to May.
‘People are in summer mode already and wouldn’t be aware that beach lifeguards aren’t on duty until June,’ she said.
‘It’s a particular issue at popular tourist beaches like Inchydoney, where people travel down at weekends and may not be familiar with the currents.
‘The swimmers who were rescued last Thursday were very fortunate that the surf instructors happened to be there and were able to rescue them.’
Fianna Fáil TD Christopher O’Sullivan said he feels it could be expanded to include more beaches like Red Strand.
‘The season should also be extended as it’s now quite frequent that we get a good spell of weather in late April or early May.’
Cork County Council have been contacted for a comment on the matter.
