Fastnet rescue - Inspiring courage

AT this time of the year, when so many of us use whatever sunshine summer might surrender to visit the shores around our island, it is very easy to be seduced by the sea.

The same but different every day, it can be beguiling and inspiring, but those who know it well know its other, dangerous side too.

It can be blindly cruel and once it turns angry, no power can earth can subdue it. We imagine we have learnt to use it but, as the crew of the racing yacht Rambler 100 discovered when their vessel capsized almost 20km off the coast of West Cork, a good day at sea can turn into a fight for survival in minutes.