Four rescued off yacht travelling from Spain to Cobh

Their boat developed mechanical and other difficulties in north-easterly force five sea conditions and requested assistance in the early hours of the morning

Courtmacsherry Lifeboat arriving back to Courtmacsherry pontoon with 40ft Yacht.

Four people were rescued in the early hours of Saturday morning after their yacht got into difficulties during their trip from Spain to Cobh.

The Courtmacsherry All-Weather RNLI Lifeboat was called out at 4.35am to go to the aid of a 40ft yacht near the Old Head of Kinsale in west Cork. 

The yacht had developed mechanical and other difficulties in north-easterly force five sea conditions and requested assistance. 

The crew of six attached a towline to the disabled boat and proceed under tow at a safe speed in choppy waters to the nearest port of Courtmacsherry. The lifeboat arrived back to the safe surrounds of the Courtmacsherry Harbour pontoon at 8.30 am with the yacht in tow. 

The Courtmacsherry RNLI Lifeboat DLA/LPO Vincent O'Donovan said: “It was great to see so many of our volunteers respond so quickly from their beds early this morning to this callout.

It was prudent that the yacht made a decision early this morning to seek assistance in some heavy seas as they had battled the elements from 100 miles offshore.

The volunteer crew involved in this morning’s callout were coxswain Ken Cashman, mechanic Chris Guy, and crewmembers Mark John Gannon, Dara Gannon, Donal Young, Ciaran Hurley, and Denis Murphy. 

This has been the third callout in the last three days with a search for a reported missing swimmer off Garrettstown on Thursday, who subsequently had got to shore themselves, and the rescue of a 13ft RIB with one person on board on the same day.