We all dive as a hobby and love the sea so if we can do some good, we will...
WHEN swimmer Steve Redmond takes on a unique, never-before-attempted Irish endurance challenge this month, he will be doing so to raise funds for West Cork Underwater Search & Rescue (WCUSAR).
Famously known for being the first person in the world to successfully complete the epic Ocean’s Seven Challenge — the swimming equivalent of conquering the highest mountains on each of the seven continents — Steve is aiming to complete a 36km swim from Baltimore Harbour to the iconic Fastnet Rock Lighthouse and back.
WCUSAR, which will be providing support services to Redmond during his record-breaking attempt, was formed after the Tit Bonhomme trawler sank off Union Hall in January, 2012.
“Divers from West Cork were asked by the emergency services to help with the underwater search as five crew members, including the captain, were missing,” explains WCUSAR chairman Patrick Mulcahy, who is himself a highly qualified Advanced Nitrox and SAR (search and recovery) diver.
“The local divers responded and asked other divers from all over the country to help in the mammoth task of finding the missing crew. Hundreds of dives were completed by the Navy and Garda dive units and up to 100 recreational divers from all over Ireland, and it took 26 days to recover all crew members.
“Divers from West Cork decided that a local unit was required to respond at short notice as it could take many hours for the official resources to mobilise. Some situations are a matter of life and death depending on how fast divers can respond.
“The local divers decided to put a professional structure in place with proper logistical back-up and support to aid such efforts.
“We aim to provide a voluntary underwater search, rescue and recovery support service to the emergency services in the West Cork area.”
Operating under a formal agreement with the Irish Coast Guard, the highly trained and experienced divers of the unit can be called upon to provide assistance in a wide range of emergency scenarios, usually where sending in trained scuba divers is the only viable option.
An entirely voluntary organisation serving the people of West Cork 365 days per year, the unit doesn’t receive any State funding and relies entirely on charitable donations in order to provide this service.
“Most of the running costs are covered by our divers,” says Mulcahy.
“We carry huge costs — we cover all expenses ourselves and use our own boats. Any funding received goes against buying further diving equipment.
“What we are trying to do now is get money into the unit so we can purchase more equipment first because there are more divers coming on board, and eventually then to cover running costs, but that’s not possible at the moment because we don’t have enough money.”
The unit is currently made up of 10 qualified SAR divers with a further three to five joining from Bantry and Castletownbere this year. It will then have divers trained and on standby from Kinsale to Castletownbere and the next step will be to bring in some younger divers.
All members of the unit have day jobs — Mulcahy is MD of Secon Construction Service in Doughcloyne — but are always be ready for an emergency.
“When we get a call from the Coast Guard/CFT SAR South diving officer, then we send out a call on WhatsApp and follow up by ringing all divers in the unit,” he says.
“Whoever is available will respond. This information will be given back to the officer. If further divers are required then he will make a call to other units based in Munster.
“All CFT SAR divers are trained to the same level in all units and are trained to dive together.
“The last time we got a call there a few months ago, around eight divers out of our 10 could respond, which is very good.
“We are always alert. The unit is always on standby seven days a week and are willing to respond at a moment’s notice.”
This was the case in June 2015 when three people lost their lives off the rocks in Baltimore. Two people were recovered from the water by the local Baltimore Lifeboat but the third was reported missing. WCUSAR responded and had divers in the water within hours of the incident.
The management of the unit decided that a huge number of divers were required to search the large expanse of water and called on all trained SAR divers from every corner of Ireland. More than 100 qualified divers turned up to help. WCUSAR managed all divers, boats, search lines and boat tracking systems. The search took 10 days before the missing person was recovered.
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