Stranded teens
Eight teenagers tried to walk from Pembrey Country Park to Burry Port Railway Station on 19 March and became stranded. One called a parent and was advised to stay put and wait for rescue. The parent dialled 999 and soon police, coastguards and Burry Port’s D class lifeboat Young Watsons were searching the area.
After a lengthy search, a lifeboat crew member found the group south of Pembrey Harbour. They were brought aboard the lifeboat and back to the station, where they were given hot drinks and wrapped in blankets. They were cold and embarrassed but otherwise unharmed.
Three overboard
Three people were rescued from the sea by Dun Laoghaire lifeboat crew in force 4–5 winds in Killiney Bay on 14 June. The all-weather lifeboat Anna Livia, inshore D class lifeboat Realt na Mara and the Irish Coast Guard Rescue 116 helicopter rushed to the scene when the alert was raised at 2pm. The four were thrown overboard when their vessel capsized off Shanganagh cliffs. One person swam to shore to raise the alarm, two clung to a buoy and another was missing.
Dun Laoghaire’s inshore lifeboat recovered two casualties while the helicopter located the missing person in the water and transported the three casualties to Tallaght Hospital.
Lone sailor capsizes
Wicklow inshore lifeboat crew rescued a lone sailor after his sailing dinghy capsized off Wicklow harbour on 19 August.
The lifeboat crew were on a training exercise at the time and spotted the man waving for help from his upturned catamaran, drifting a short distance from the entrance to the harbour.
The lifeboat crew were quickly alongside and took the man onto the lifeboat. They took him back to East Pier and towed his vessel back into the harbour. Then they resumed their training exercise.
Surfers caught out by current
An evening surf session turned into a rescue drama when two men were caught in a rip current and swept out to sea from an East Lothian beach.
Members of the public raised the alarm as the pair, from the Livingston area, struggled to get back to shore against the current.
Dunbar’s RNLI inshore D class lifeboat Jimmy Miff assisted the pair, who were about a quarter of a mile off Belhaven Beach, on 13 July.
One of the surfers had been in a pretty bad state but RNLI Helmsman Alan Blair said: ‘A canoeist had been holding him above the waves before we got there, which made the difference.’ The surfer was treated by paramedics at the harbourside.