Skerries Coast Guard

This morning the Skerries Coast Guard team took part in routine training with the Irish Coast Guard helicopter EI-MES. The landing site selected was at Red Island, Skerries and conditions on scene were excellent.

The unusual Easterly wind provided for a challenging landing approach from the South of the Martello Tower and as always the crew of EI-MES performed an admirable job.

The Skerries Coast Guard crew were given a full ground briefing on helicopter operations, including winching techniques, equipment, communications, disembarking procedures and landing sites.

 All of the Skerries Coast Guard crew also took part in a flight around the area.

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This evening the Skerries Coast Guard team were at the newly redeveloped Springers bathing complex at Red Island, Skerries for some rescue line training.

more photos are posted in the photo gallery

Skerries Coast Guard were tasked at 21:15 this evening by the Irish Coast Guard’s rescue co-ordination centre (MRCC) to investigate a report of oil pollution on the shoreline north of Skerries. The Skerries Coast Guard team arrived on scene within minutes and located a 45 gallon drum containing a large amount of diesel near the waters edge.

The team resealed the drum, established there was no indication of diesel spill in the vicinity and removed it from the scene for specialist disposal by Fingal County Council.

 No further assistance required and the Skerries Coast Guard team were stood down by MRCC.

Incident #9 of 2008

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Two members from the Skerries Coast Guard unit have been chosen to participate in the Joint Search And Rescue (JSAR) games. JSAR is an annual competition in which teams are assessed on their ability to complete a number of search and rescue based scenarios. This year the competition will be held in Howth harbour on Saturday 10th of May.

Preparation for the event involved intensive training in Wicklow and Mullingar over the past number of months. The training covered power-boating, navigation, leadership, water and land based rescue and teamwork.

The event is open to the public and promises to be a highly entertaining day out. The theme will be “Coastguards now and then”, and will feature exciting displays from the National Transport Museum, and an array of rescue equipment from present day and years gone by.

Take a look at some photos from the JSAR 2008 event in our photo gallery

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