Skerries beach party

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This morning the Skerries Coast Guard team dropped in to the Community Beach Party, at the South Strand, Skerries. This excellent event was organised by the Skerries Community Association, in part to celebrate the return of the prestigious blue flag to the Skerries beach.

The sun beamed down on the large crowd as the impressive sandcastle competition got underway. The Skerries Coast Guard team handed out plenty of Coast Guard goodies and water safety books, which were very well received by the crowd.

 

Red flare sighting – 27th June 2012

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At 20:10 this evening, the Skerries Coast Guard team were just commencing a training exercise on Rush South beach when they spotted a lone red parachute flare deployed nearby in the area of Portrane/Rogerstown estuary. The Skerries team immediately notified the Coast Guard’s Maritime Operations Centre of the distress signal and headed straight to the area, beginning their search within seconds.  

The Coast Guard issued a radio Pan Pan alert to all vessels in the area and several vigilent members of the public also contacted the Coast Guard on 999 to report the flare. The Dublin based Coast Guard helicopter was also tasked to conduct a search of the Donabate/Portrane/Rogerstown area.

A thorough search of the area was conducted, involving Skerries Coast Guard, a Coast Guard helicopter (Rescue 116) and several public vessels but nothing unusual was found. With the incident successfully concluded the Skerries team resumed their training exercise. 

Incident #6 of 2012

Remember – if you spot someone in difficulty or even if you think that someone could be in difficulty, dial 999 or 112 and ask for the COAST GUARD. Your call could save their life.

 

Marine Notice #32 of 2012 – Live surface to air firing practices

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Live surface to air firing practices will take place at the Gormanston Air Defence Range on 3rd to 4th July 2012, from 09:00 to 18:00 each day.

The danger area comprises the lands of Gormanston Aerodrome and the Air and Sea areas contained within a radius of 3 nautical miles centred on Gormanston Aerodrome, with an additional area contained within a segment centred on Gormanston Aerodrome and bearing of 015º degrees true, through Mosney Railway Station and 106º degrees true, through Gormanston Railway Station seawards for a distance of 10 nautical miles. For the periods whilst the Range is active the sea zone within the danger area is excluded to all vessels.

A Naval Service vessel will enforce the exclusion zone. The exclusion zone ‘D1’ is indicated on British Admiralty Chart No. 44.

All vessels are advised that they are required to remain outside of the exclusion zone whilst the Range is active. All vessels in the area are also recommended to carefully monitor the Radio Navigation Warnings that will be broadcast during the firing period.

To view the full text of the marine notice, visit the Department of Transport’s website.

Skerries Coast Guard – a voluntary search and rescue unit of the Irish Coast Guard.

Remember – if you spot someone in difficulty on the coast, dial 999 or 112 and ask for the COAST GUARD. Your call could save a life.

SARDA search dog training

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Earlier today the Skerries Coast Guard team took up a recent invitation to attend a SARDA search dog training event at Donabate, on the banks of the Malahide estuary. This was a fantastic opportunity for the Skerries Coast Guard team to meet with several SARDA search dog handlers and observe first hand the years of rigorous training their dogs undergo.

The day proved very insightful and impressive, with the Skerries team observing several different searches over varied and challenging terrain, each time the dogs successfully locating their “missing person” with incredible skill and efficiency.

SARDA Ireland is a voluntary emergency search and rescue organisation concerned with the training, assessment and deployment of air scenting search and rescue dogs to search for missing persons. For further information on SARDA visit their website at www.sardaireland.com

Skerries Coast Guard would like to sincerely thank SARDA for this opportunity to attend their training event and look forward to working with them again in the future.

More photos are available in our online photo gallery.

Skerries Coast Guard – a voluntary search and rescue unit of the Irish Coast Guard.