RNLI 150 celebrations inspired crew - now he volunteers with
MYLES BUCHANAN TALKS TO LONG-SERVING CREW MEMBER CIARAN DOYLE ABOUT GROWING UP SAVING LIVES AT SEA
THIS year is a milestone year for the RNLI as they celebrate 200 years of lifesaving, with Wicklow RNLI set to mark the occasion with a special anniversary celebration at Wicklow Harbour taking place on March 4. Current second coxswain Ciaran Doyle was born and reared in Wicklow town and grew up close to the sea. As a young child Ciaran actually attended the 150th celebrations held at Wicklow Lifeboat Station, alongside some classmates who also went onto join the RNLI ranks.
He recalls: “The celebrations are held every 50 years and my class at St Patrick’s Boys NS were brought down to the harbour to watch the ceremony. It attracted a huge crowd and Wicklow RNLI PRO Tommy Dover was one of my classmates and there are photos out there of us and our other classmates enjoying proceedings. Who would have imagined that less than ten years later I would be a Wicklow RNLI crew member.”
While Ciaran always had a close affiliation with the sea and all things maritime, his family background couldn’t be any further from seafaring.
“We lived at the old railway house at the Murrough and back then there were no pagers for alerts, so the crews were alerted to a callout through thunderclaps, so you would hear the thunderclaps and then you would run down to the pier to watch the lifeboat launch. We were always fishing and swimming off the pier and the lifeboat was very much part of goings-on there.
“My family came from a farming background. I once had an uncle from Portlaoise visiting the lifeboat station and he said ‘there isn’t a snowballs chance in hell that you’ll get me anywhere near this’, but I always had a love for the sea.”
Ciaran was working as a lifeguard in the early 1980s as he worked himself through college, when he was first approached about becoming a volunteer RNLI crew member.
“In 1983, Eddie Doyle from Wicklow RNLI came down to the beach and said he was looking to recruit some younger members. I signed up when I was 19 and my singing-on papers certifying me as a crew member were issued on February 15, 1984.
“I started off as a crew member, the same as everyone else. I then went to work as a mechanic and the mechanic section is responsible for running the engines, the boat systems and communications. Then, in 1997 I was looking to train up as a coxswain, running the boats and managing the rescues.
“There are a huge amount of qualifications involved and I became an emergency coxswain in 1999 and then took on the role of second coxswain in 2006. Basically, to become a coxswain you have to go back to school and obtain your Yachtmaster Off Shore Motor Certificate.
“The roles of mechanic and coxswain are completely different. They are powerful boats so the mechanics and coxswains need to be properly qualified. As a mechanic you are dealing with jet and engine systems and gear boxes. There is also lots of technology involved, including SIMS and three servers on the boat bringing all the engine systems together. The mechanics are also the primary communicators and operates the radio system.
“The coxswain is involved in navigation and the management of the crew, ensuring the crew return safely. They also carry out bridge management to pull everything together.”
The Wicklow RNLI volunteer crew are involved in between 30 to 40 callouts every year, often involving fishing boats in difficulty. In Ciaran’s 40 years of service he can recall a number of successful rescues which could have turned out quite differently if it weren’t for the professionalism and excellence of the volunteer crew, who remain on call 24 hours a day, every day of the year.
Ciaran stated: “Everything is controlled and risk assessed and we know the dangers we are potentially in. Around ten years ago we were called out to fishing boat in difficulty out at Wicklow Head. The vessel was 120 tonnes and 24 metres in length, so it was a lot bigger and heavier than the lifeboat, which weighs about 25 tonnes. We’re operating to the extreme and had to tow the fishing boat back and then get the crew off the boat, as it was most likely going to end up wrecked on the shore.
“The tow-line snapped a couple of times and It was a difficult rescue that sticks in the memory.”
He added: “I also recall a rescue around ten years ago involving a person who was out windsurfing at Brittas Bay during a snow storm in November. He had been washed up and ended up dislocating his shoulder, which made it difficult for him to get back up on his board. He was out there for a few hours before we finally got to him. He was in a lot of difficulty and told us he had started making peace with his God.
“He was constantly slipping off the board and was going under the water, when he heard something while underwater, which actually turned out to be our lifeboat, and he was able