There have been six sea rescues today. Two nine-year-old boys were rescued after their dinghy was swept out to sea off the coast of Donegal this morning. The boys were in their dinghy on the beach at Portnoo when they were swept out to sea. Glenties Gardaí and a helicopter from Finner were involved in the search. The boys were picked up with the help of the Aranmore lifeboat and a local fisherman. In County Wicklow, a windsurfer in Greystones got into difficulty this morning and was recovered by the Emergency Services and a local fishing boat.
The Irish Marine Emergency Service has been dealing with a yacht on route from the Scilly Isles to Kinsale which ran into fog and heavy weather south of Ireland this morning. Local reports say that "The Tam-o-Shanter" radioed for help when its Global Positioning System began to misread the boat's position. The crew were further hampered by extremely heavy weather and a torn sail. With the aid of the IMES and Coast Radio Stations, a position was given and the yacht is now safely in Kinsale Harbour.
It is believed a millennium style bug caused the “Tam-o-Shanter” to lose its position today. At midnight GMT (1am Irish time) the GPS "rolled over". After its launch in 1980 it had a life span of 1,024 weeks, which reached zero this morning when the system reverted back to its start time. All mariners had been warned of this, but GPS units older than five years would not have been capable of handling the change.
In Wexford, a boat went aground at Fethard on Sea in Wexford and was recovered by the Fethard Lifeboat; and the Dunmore east lifeboat was called to a yacht that ran into difficulties off the Waterford coast. Meanwhile, a fishing trawler from Castletownbere with five men on board, is being towed into Cobh Harbour by the LE Aoife. The trawler got into difficulty at around noon about 100 miles south of Cork Harbour. The LE Aoife, which was in the area at the time, responded to the distress signal. It is understood that the boat, the "San Jove", got into trouble after its nets became entangled around its propeller blades. The boat is expected to reach Castletownbere early tomorrow morning.
