Lone sailor helped to safety by RNLI

A lone sailor who got into difficulty off Co Clare overnight was towed to safety by the RNLI.

The alarm was raised at around 12.50am today when the Irish Coast Guard was alerted to a yacht broken down off Kilrush in west Clare.

The yacht, with just one person on board, had travelled from Baltimore in Cork and was just minutes from berthing at Kilrush Creek Marina when it lost all power.

Left adrift in the Shannon Estuary the experienced sailor quickly dropped anchor and raised the alarm.

The volunteer crew of the Kilrush RNLI Lifeboat were alerted and responded to the incident to find the casualty vessel was just 100m from their own base.

The crew reached the scene within minutes and quickly established a tow before successfully recovering the vessel through the lock gates and into the safety of Kilrush Marina. The sailor was unharmed.

Kilrush RNLI Press Officer, Charlie Glynn commended the quick-thinking skipper for deploying his vessel’s anchor.

“This halted the effects of wind and tide, which made for an effective and efficient recovery,” he said.