Earlier this year members of Skerries Coast Guard rescued an injured seal pup from the North beach in Skerries. Christened “Mighty”, the female seal pup was transferred to the care of the Irish Seal Sanctuary where she was rehabilitated to full health. This rehabilitation culminated in Mighty’s release back to the wilds of the Irish Sea on a sunny afternoon in Skerries.

Members of the Skerries Coast Guard who had rescued the seal all those weeks ago were on hand to assist with the release. Despite a slightly nervous and apprehensive start, Mighty soon made a dash for the water, much to the delight of the large crowd that had gathered to watch.

The seal sanctuary have marked the seal’s head with a small red dot of dye, so as to identify her over the coming months. This will disappear naturally when she next sheds her coat. They expect her to hang about the Skerries area for the next while until she becomes familiar with being in the sea.

More photos are available in our photo gallery!

The JSAR competition drew to a close on Saturday evening in Mulroy. Having faced several challenging scenarios over the course of Friday evening and all day on Saturday, the various teams gathered for the closing ceremony. First of all, congratulations to Michelle and her team in Mulroy Coast Guard unit for organising such a fantastic competition, even the weather was top notch!

Once again, the Valentia team captured the Kirwin cup. However, the Dublin A team, which included Stephen from Skerries Coast Guard,  put in a solid performance to clinch the Shield trophy.

More photos of the event are available in the SCG gallery

The offical JSAR photos are available here

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This weekend, two members of Skerries Coast Guard, Johnny and Stephen, will be heading to Mulroy, Co Donegal at the annual Joint Search And Rescue (JSAR) competition.  This competition involves members of both the Irish Coast Guard and members of HM Coast Guard Northern Ireland. Johnny and Stephen have been selected to represent the Coast Guard’s Dublin division at the event. The Irish Coast Guard’s Mulroy unit is hosting the event this year.

Now in it’s 5th year, the JSAR competition aims to increase the professionalism of all participants and to enhance co-operation between both rescue services through friendly competition. At the event, the participants will be faced with a series of realistic emergency situations which they may encounter throughout their rescue services. The competition will test key rescue skills such as leadership, search planning, chart work, first aid, helicopter operations and communications.

More information on the JSAR event is available from www.jsar.ie

You can also follow the latest JSAR news and action from Mulroy’s facebook page.

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The Irish Kitesurfing.ie blog has some useful and practical water safety tips for kitesurfers following on from our recent rescue of a Kitesurfer at the South beach, Rush. Click here to access these posts.

Note: kitesurfing.ie is not affiliated with the Irish Coast Guard. The views expressed on the above link are entirely those of the kitesurfing.ie blog community and not those of the Irish Coast Guard nor Skerries Coast Guard.

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Latest news!

The mystery of the seal stranded on a Skerries beach and rescued by Skerries Coast Guard has now been solved. The Irish Seal Sanctuary discovered that the young seal had been rescued by a Welsh animal rescue Centre on the 27th November 2009. The seal was successfully rehabilitated and then released on the Welsh coast on the 20th January 2010. She had aged to cross the Irish sea before arriving, exhausted, ashore in Skerries. The latest news from the sanctuary is that she is slowly responding to treatment and will be released back to the wild as soon as possible.

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The young seal rescued by Skerries Coast Guard volunteers last week has created a mystery. The Irish Seal Sanctuary are now caring for the seal, named “Mighty”, and have appealed for help from the public in tracing its origins. The seal had a large yellow tag on its flipper stating “Notify London Zoo”. However, London Zoo have stated that it knew nothing about the seal and did not use that type of animal tag.

Irish Times article on Mighty: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0409/1224267974789.html

Skerries Coast Guard volunteers marched in the local St Patrick’s day parade.  The 2010 parade was as popular as ever, with crowds lining the main street. The Dublin Coast Guard helicopter, EI-MES, also performed a flyover for the parade.

At the end of the visit the Skerries Coast Guard unit was presented with a USCG flag.  Skerries Coast Guard would like to wish the crew members of USCGC Baranof a safe tour!

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This afternoon, Skerries Coast Guard volunteers were involved with the rescue of a young dolphin near the harbour in Skerries. The dolphin had become stranded at the North Beach and Coast Guard volunteers assisted with lifting the dolphin into a local rescue boat and taking it to deeper waters.

A large crowd had assembled on the North Beach to watch the rescue.

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Our flank Coast Guard station in Howth is organising a 1,500m sea swim at 3pm on Saturday 11th July at Claremount Beach, Howth. Teams from the North Dublin emergency services will be taking part, including the Irish Coast Guard, Airport Police & Fire Service, An Garda Síochána, Beaumont Hospital A&E, and Dublin Fire Brigade.

Members of the Skerries Coast Guard team will also be taking part in the race. The Howth Coast Guard station will also be open for members of the public to visit.