North Atlantic Skyline - - Photographs from the west of Ireland (Galway, Mayo, Clare, Limerick, Roscommon and even Leitrim)

Dropping In

I was at my parents house last week. My mother, who passed on her photographer genes to me, has been going through the bagfuls of her old pictures and putting some of them into albums. I was flitting through one of them when I came across a school class photo of my brother, taken probably a quarter of a century ago. One of his classmates - all young fellas grinning at the camera - was one who would later be killed piloting an Air Corp helicopter on a rescue mission at the beginning of July, 1999. A boat had called for help when a child became seasick on board. As it turned out, the helicopter turned back when a lifeboat reached the boat in question first, and crashed in thick fog along Tramore beach in Waterford. All four of the flight crew died.

Air-sea rescue is a risky business - in Ireland, it is handled by the Coastguard now. On the way back from Inishbofin a couple of weeks ago, I just about made it onto the last ferry back to Cleggan a mix-up with the hotel [their bus left for the harbour without us]. A mile or two out to sea, the boat did a tight turn and began to head back to the island. For a few minutes, I thought I'd got on the wrong boat. And then the crew began to rail off the back of the boat (where there was the best view) with a rope. It seemed like an otherwise perfect day was going somewhat downhill. And then one of the crew, eying my cameras, commented," You might have something interesting to photograph in a few minutes".

After a few minutes, a Coastguard helicopter swooped low over the boat , flew over Inishbofin and then turned back towards the boat. The coastguard use Sikorski S61N helicoptors and, by god, they are big machines. The helicopter hovered just over the boat which was heading back to 'Bofin at this stage, while one of the crew was lowered down onto the deck with a stretcher. He unhooked himself, the helicopter flew off before returning a minute or two later to retrieve their man. As soon as he was aboard again, the helicopter did a low, fast pass over the boat before flying off towards the Twelve Bens on the mainland.

And the point of it all ? According to the crew, if the helicopter is in the area, they contact one of the ferries to do a practice landing. As a crewman said, " we're always glad to see them". Needles to say, every kid on the boat was enthralled by the spectacle, and not just the little 'uns.

inishbofin, island, connemara, coastguard, ireland, galway, irishblogs, photoblogs, photography, galwayblogs, monasette, north atlantic skyline, nature,john smyth, Canon, 5D, august, 2007

Posted by Monasette at August 21, 2007 08:25 PM