RNLI to provide Youghal station with new lifeboat
Youghal will get a bigger, faster, and better-equipped vessel as a replacement to the one in use since 2002.
The new Atlantic 85 craft, which is 27ft 7in long, will be powered by twin 115hp outboard engines and will carry a host of new equipment on board, including radar and VHF direction-finding equipment.
The lifeboat, due for delivery in Youghal Station next March or April, will be constructed at the RNLI Inshore Centre in Cowes, on the Isle of Wight.
It’s the third generation B-class Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) developed from the Atlantic 21 and the later Atlantic 75.
It will replace the present Atlantic 75 class lifeboat ‘Patricia Jennings’ which has served as the harbour town’s lifeboat for the past 13 years.
Larger than the current lifeboat, the Atlantic 85 will also be faster, with a top speed of 35 knots (65km per hour) and there will be provision to carry an extra crew member, increasing the capacity from three to four.
The new lifeboat will be the most advanced Atlantic class craft to be given to a lifeboat station in Co Cork and will cost in the region of €276,000 to complete.
There are currently five Atlantic 75 class RNLI lifeboats serving along the Cork coastline, based at Youghal, Crosshaven, Kinsale, Union Hall, and Baltimore.
When it takes up service next year, the Atlantic 85 will become the third generation of Atlantic lifeboats to serve at Youghal, following on from the very successful Atlantics 21 and 75.
The Marjorie Turner Atlantic 21 lifeboat went into service at Youghal in 1984.
Youghal was also the first station on the entire coast of Ireland to operate an Atlantic Class Lifeboat.
