BREAKING: Busy Sunday afternoon for Courtmacsherry lifeboat volunteers

The Courtmacsherry RNLI all-weather lifeboat, ‘Frederick Storey Cockburn,’ had two call-outs this afternoon to help yachts that got into difficulties off the West Cork coast.
The first was at 2.20pm to go to the aid of a 41ft yacht that had got into difficulties just off the Seven Heads and had sought help. The Courtmacsherry lifeboat, under coxswain Sean O’Farrell plus a crew of six, launched immediately and proceeded to the area of Cotton Rock where the casualty with five crew on board had fouled its propellers off the rocky shoreline of Travera. â€¨Arriving at the scene at 2.50pm, the lifeboat immediately secured a tow line to the stricken vessel as it was near the rocky shoreline. Conditions at sea this afternoon were poor with a strong swell and poor visibility. â€¨The lifeboat brought the casualty into the safe surrounds of Courtmacsherry Harbour and is now safely berthed at the pier pontoon. The yacht was on a passage from Cobh to Baltimore when the call out for assistance was raised with Valentia Radio Coastguard. â€¨The crew of the lifeboat on this call-out comprised coxswain Sean O’Farrell, mechanic Stuart Russell and crew members Mark Gannon, Micheál O’Donovan, Ciarán Hurley, Paul McCarthy and Evin O’Sullivan. 


The soccer-mad lifeboat crew returned to watch the second half of the World Cup final at 5pm, but were soon interrupted again by the sound of their bleepers at 5.10pm as a 35ft yacht had got into difficulty three miles off the Old Head of Kinsale. 


The lifeboat reached the lone sailor, who had been at sea for 12 months and was journeying from Portugal to his home in the Shetland Islands, at 5.40pm. His yacht, the ‘Ariel,’ was taken in tow and brought back to Courtmacsherry. â€¨

The lifeboat crew on this callout was coxswain Sean O’Farrell, mechanic Stuart Russell and crew members Ciarán Hurley, Micheál O’Donovan, Austin McKenna, Evin O’Sullivan and Sean Maxwell.