Safety warning following probe into boat death

BOAT skippers and operators of recreational craft were reminded of the importance of taking due regard of weather and sea conditions after a Marine Casualty Investigation Report showed how a man died off a west Cork Island after a minor boating trip went wrong.

In the early hours of December 5 2008, ten people set off from Colla Pier near Schull in County Cork for Coney Island where they planned to stay the weekend. They were in an open six metre boat powered by a 30 HP outboard engine and were due to travel a kilometre off the coast.

The investigating team were informed how boat owner Michael McGill travelled to Cork Airport to collect his nine passengers who had travelled to Ireland from Geneva. En route to west Cork they stopped for dinner, arriving at Colla Pier for the 10-minute crossing at 00.30am. They were all offered oilskins, wellingtons and lifejackets, but most refused the lifejackets.