Busy year for Arran coastguard team
It has been another busy year for the members of the Arran Coastguard Rescue Team who have responded to 179 call-outs in the last 12 months.
In the three months of September, October and November alone the team responded to 43 call-outs. September was the less busy month which saw the team tasked to 11 jobs – nine to secure the landing site at Knockenkelly for Helimed 5 and two to yachts in difficulty.
October saw 16 tasks – 14 to secure the landing site for Helimed 5 and two to yachts in difficulty. In addition to the tasks the team also completed a night search exercise using its new lost and missing person search procedures.
November was a busier month with 18 tasks, unusually only 10 of them were to secure the landing site for Helimed 5 and R199. The others included three calls to yachts in dif- ficulty, one had sunk at its mooring in Corrie harbour.
Once ensuring no-one was at risk, the team recovered the lifejackets from the water before they floated out to sea where their discovery may have led to fears of a vessel sinking at sea. They then tracked down the owner and offered safety advice regarding recovery of personal belongings from the yacht.
November also included three calls to deal with marine pyrotechnics which had been washed ashore.
Once they were assessed to be safe to be handled they were removed to a place of safekeeping before they were transported to the mainland for safe destruction.
Towards the end of the month Belfast Coastguard received a request from the police for assistance to search Brodick beach after personal items were found close by.
November also marked a few important highlights for the team who completed a day’s water rescue training which allowed a new team member to complete his training and be able to go on calls with the team. The new member is a welcome addition and had a very busy start to his time in the coastguard with three call-outs on his first day.
Another highlight of the month was two experienced team members qualifying as officers in charge, which will enable them to be in charge of an incident. This takes the number of OiCs in the team to four and is also very welcome news to the two existing OiCs who have had to ensure there was always one of them on the island at all times.