September 23rd, 2009
At 21:45 this evening, the volunteers of Skerries Coast Guard were paged by the Coast Guard’s rescue coordination centre to investigate reports of vessels in difficulty. Concerned members of the public had contacted the Coast Guard on 999 to report that two large commercial vessels appeared to be aground at Rogerstown estuary, Rush. The initial reports suggested that one of the vessels appeared to be listing and may be in danger of flooding.
The Skerries Coast Guard rescue team arrived at the scene in Rush within minutes and observed the two vessels using night vision equipment. The team attempted to establish radio contact with the vessels however, this was unsuccessful. After observing the vessels it was clear that they were moored in shallow waters, possibly awaiting the next high tide. No further assistance was required and the Skerries team were stood down.
Incident #19 of 2009
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September 16th, 2009
This evening, the volunteers of Skerries Coast Guard took part in routine night search training at the South Strand, Skerries. This involved the scenario of a person reported missing the the area. Once the “casualty” was successfully located, the Coast Guard team provided medical assistance and evacuated from the scene.
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September 9th, 2009
At 21:25 this evening, the Irish Coast Guard’s marine rescue coordination centre (MRCC) paged the volunteers of Skerries Coast Guard to an incident at Loughshinny, some four miles South of Skerries. Balbriggan Gardai has requested assistance from the Coast Guard with a major search operation at a remote location in Loughshinny. Gardai had received a report that a young person may be in difficulty and requiring assistance in the area of the Loughshinny Martello Tower.
The Skerries Coast Guard rescue team arrived at the scene within minutes and met with the Gardai on scene. Given the search area included cliffs, trenches and difficult scrub land the Coast Guard’s Sikorsky rescue helicopter, Rescue 116, was deployed from its nearby base at Dublin Airport to assist with the search. With several Coast Guard rescue teams on the ground and the helicopter using its powerful NightSun searchlight and infra-red camera, the entire area was thoroughly searched, however nothing unusual was found. All teams were subsequently stood down.
Incident # 18 of 2009
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Tags: helicopter, loughshinny, search
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September 5th, 2009
We have added a new link to our volunteer recruitment page showing the Google Earth locations of all the other Coast Guard stations dotted around the country. Click here to view. (This link opens directly in Google Earth. To install Google Earth, please download here http://earth.google.com/)
This link is courtesy of the coastguard.ie site.
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September 5th, 2009
We have just added more training photos to our online web gallery, including photos from the recent joint exercise in Drogheda. Click here to view the gallery.
Skerries Coast Guard volunteers on Mornington beach, at Drogheda CG combined unit exercise August 2009
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Tags: photos, Training
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September 1st, 2009
This weekend, several members of the Skerries Coast Guard team participated in a combined unit exercise (CUE) hosted by our flank station in Drogheda. The exercise was held over the course of two days and was also attended by members of the Greenore, Skerries and Howth Coast Guard stations.
The first day of action took place in the difficult terrain around Slane castle, where the Coast Guard teams were faced with a series of gruelling physical and mental challenges. These included team members having to swim sections of the fast flowing Boyne river in full rescue kit.
On the following day the action moved to the coastal area of Mornigton for an at-sea rescue scenario.
Thanks to our flank station Drogheda for hosting this excellent training event.
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August 28th, 2009
This afternoon, Skerries Coast Guard were tasked by the Coast Guard’s rescue coordination centre to investigate reports of a drifting yacht at Skerries harbour. Several concerned members of the public at the harbour had contacted the Coast Guard to report that the yacht was drifting towards rocks at the shoreline.
The Skerries Coast Guard team arrived on scene within minutes and quickly established that there were no persons on board the yacht and it appeared to have broken free from its moorings nearby. The yacht was later successfully removed from the beach with the assistance of Skerries lifeboat and returned to its moorings. The Skerries Coast Guard team also conducted a full shoreline search to establish that no pollution had occured from the grounded yacht.
Incident # 17 of 2009
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Tags: Skerries, yacht
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August 23rd, 2009
At 22:33 this evening, Skerries Coast Guard were tasked to investigate reports of a vessel requiring assistance near Rush harbour. A concerned member of the public had contact the Coast Guard’s rescue coordination centre to report that a large boat appeared to be drifting dangerously close to rocks near Rush harbour.
The Skerries Coast Guard rescue team arrived at Rush harbour within minutes and immediately began a shoreline search for the boat. Weather conditions on scne were excellent with good visability. No boats were observed in the area and the search did no yield anything unusual. The team were subsequently stood down.
Incident # 16 of 2009
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Tags: Rush
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August 22nd, 2009
This morning, a member of the public found an abandoned Search And Rescue Transponder (SART) while out walking in the town centre. This SART was handed to one of the Skerries Coast Guard volunteers, who with the assistance of the Coast Guard’s marine rescue coordination centre (MRCC) traced it to a local fishing trawler currently berthed at Skerries harbour.
These SARTs are an essential piece of marine safety equipment and are used by a vessel when in distress and in need of assistance. Local Gardai are investigating the removal of this SART from the vessel.
Skerries Coast Guard made contact with the owner and it appears that the SART may have been recently stolen from the trawler and discarded on wasteland. The SART was safely returned to the ower later in the day.
Incident # 15 of 2009
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August 19th, 2009
This evening, the crew of Skerries Coast Guard took part in a joint training exercise with the crew of Skerries RNLI. This took place at the North Beach, Skerries, near the harbour. The evening started with a joint briefing to both teams on the proposed training scenario. Phase 1 of the scenario was centered around an injured casualty being located near the shore by the Coast Guard team, treated at the scene and then requiring evacuation by lifeboat.
Phase 2 of the scenario involved the lifeboat rescuing a casualty at sea and transferring to a Coast Guard shore team for further treatment and evacuation.
Conditions on scene were excellent for the exercise and small crowd of public gathered in the area to observe. A joint debrief was held and the exercise was found to have been a great success, with both sides gaining a greater appreciation of each other’s capabilities.
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