Derrynane InShore Rescue

THIS will be the second year that the Derrynane Inshore Rescue Service will be a beneficiary of the Ring of Kerry Cycle.

At last year’s event participants who cycled the Ring on Derrynane Inshore Rescue’s behalf raised an astonishing €133,696 and the service received an additional €33,000 from the charity event’s central allocation.

That money was used to fully refit the service’s Aghamore II rescue rib which was completely revamped from the hull up with new engines, electronics and safety equipment among the many improvements. The revamped boat was relaunched just a few weeks ago when a large crowd gathered at the boathouse in Derrynane’s picturesque harbour to mark the occasion.

The service’s Chairperson, Helen Wilson – who has has issued a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has supported the service down the years and to all who cycled on its behalf last summer – has encouraged as many people as possible to take part and support the event once more on July 1.

The money raised through this year’s cycle will be used to upgrade Derrynane Inshore Rescue’s boathouse, launch slip and possibly – if there is enough left over – to buy an auxiliary training rib.

Like most similar services Derrynane Inshore Rescue is manned, managed and crewed by local volunteers and the service, which has saved scores of lives, is entirely reliant on charity donations to fund its operation.

Now in its 27th year Derrynane Inshore Rescue was founded in 1990 by the late and much missed Austin ‘Ossie’ Wilson, who owned and ran the water sports centre in Derrynane with his family.

He was inspired to set up the service following the tragic deaths of a father and son who drowned when their boat got into difficulties as they sailed from Ballinskelligs to Derrynane.

In the wake of the tragedy Ossie Wilson and another member of the eventual rescue team – Michael Donnelly – realised that there had to be some local co-ordination in rescue services, where the alarm could be raised and a search and rescue quickly be organised.

While Derrynane is close to the RNLI station at Valentia the Kenmare River is a huge area and with ever more increasing leisure traffic due to the economic up-swing, the Valentia service wasn’t able to provide an adequate level of cover for the vast area.

A smaller boat (cheaper to run and more maneuverable in coastal waters) was an advantage. Ossie and Michael equipped their cars with VHF radios. They were soon joined by other dedicated volunteers and they got a smallish boat and attended training courses.

By 2004 the service had gown considerably and following a major local fundraising campaign they were able to purchase a new and much more powerful rescue boat and to construct a dedicated boathouse on lands kindly donated by the Earl of Dunraven who a holiday home in Derrynane harbour.

Derrynane Inshore Rescue are on call 24 hours a day 365 days a year and cover an area that stretches from Ballinskelligs Bay all the way up the Kenmare River and across to West Cork and Dursey Island.

The service is renowned for the skill and dedication of its volunteers who have been singled out for praise by the RNLI on numerous occasions thanks to their astoundingly fast response time. Indeed the service is famed, and frequently lauded, for having one of the fastest response times of any inshore rescue team in the country.

Typically the service is called out about 11 times a year, mainly in the summer months though increasingly their expertise being called upon in the winter. The service also regularly provides safety support for numerous events including triathlons, regattas and fishing contests.

As well as rescue operations the service has been involved in many recovery operations where they have been called on to retrieve the bodies of people who lost their lives in the waters of Kenmare Bay. This is an especially difficult and emotional task but any of the service’s volunteers will tell you it is part of the job the train for.

DIR Chairperson Helen Wilson explains it best. “Our call outs range from boats that are out of petrol to flare sightings and missing people. No two call outs are ever the same. The crew works in a high pressure, stressful environment. Leaving the comfort of your home at one in the morning to attend a call 20 nautical miles away is no easy task but they all do it voluntarily.”

“The vast majority of the situations we attend are successful and have a happy outcome but, unfortunately, here are some which do not have a happy ending.

Over the last 27 years DIR have retrieved several bodies from Kenmare Bay. Dealing with such tragedies is no easy task for the volunteers but it is part of the job we’re here to do.”