The nine people rescued off the Wexford coast owe their lives to wearing lifejackets, staying together, and a faulty search light.
"That and the fact that they left word of their plans ashore saved them," RNLI Kilmore Quay volunteer Aidan Bates says.
The fact that the nine survived for so many hours in a sea area known for its strong tidal streams is a “big shout out for the value of wearing lifejackets”, Mr Bates says.
The incident occurred east of the site of one of the worst pleasure boat incidents in the southeast, when five people drowned after the angling boat Pisces sank with 10 people on board, close to Fethard-on-Sea in late July, 2002. The Pisces did not have enough lifesaving equipment, including lifejackets, on board.
Three generations
The party which left Kilmore Quay on Saturday afternoon included three generations of one family, participating in a north Wexford family get-together.
The six-metre craft with an inboard engine was towed by road to Kilmore Quay and launched from the slip for a day’s angling, in good weather conditions, with a force two to three south-westerly wind.
It was heading through Saltee Sound, which has a tricky pilotage with strong tidal streams and choppy seas due to uneven ground, when survivors said a wave broke over the boat. It stove in the wheelhouse window and swamped the hull.
The party had no time to use the VHF on board, and eight mobile phones were quickly soaked in sea water.
A concerned relative who knew the RNLI Kilmore Quay lifeboat coxswain Eugene Kehoe, rang him at 11.15pm when the craft had not returned to shore.
“We checked and found the jeep and trailer still in the carpark and no sign of the boat, so we launched at 11.30pm,” Mr Bates says.
Assisting was the Saltee Islands passenger ferry, An Crossan, which had another three of the lifeboat crew on board, including skipper Sam Nunn.
"We were at the back of the Great Saltee, and An Crossan had to stop as one of its search lights wasn't working," Mr Bates said. "It was while its engine was cut that it heard a voice shouting and headed in that direction, finding them at about 12.30am."
The boat was upturned when the lifeboat arrived, and was just afloat due to an air pocket. It is believed to have sunk in the early hours of yesterday morning.
