Cork Coasts: We are a great team here in Castletownbere RNLI

“We have never refused to launch” says, Paul Stevens, lifeboat operations manager at Castletownbere RNLI lifeboat station.

A relatively young station, just 27 years in the town it is now a focal point of the local community. Like many coastal areas, over the years Beara has witnessed a number of maritime tragedies, and was dependent on lifeboats based in Baltimore and Valentia. It was says John Nolan, chair of the station’s fundraising committee down to the relentless campaigning by former fundraiser Sheila O’Driscoll and the late Donal O’Driscoll that in 1996, the RNLI agreed that an all-weather lifeboat would be permanently based in the town.

Castletownbere lifeboat has a sea-going crew of 24, four on the operations team and 12 on the fundraising team, all volunteers.

Anyone aged between 18 and 65 can become a crew member, says Paul.

The RNLI provides a rigorous training programme. Coxswain Dean Hegarty encourages anyone interested in joining the crew to call into the station.

They can have a chat with us, they’ll be asked to undergo a medical and then the next stage is a three day course at the Maritime College of Ireland in Ringaskiddy, covering sea survival, firefighting and the use of flares.

New crew members are still training at sea for a further 18 months says Dean, familiarising themselves with the boat, and working with the other crew members.

“We’re a great team here, no matter who is on the boat you know you can rely on that person,” he says.

A key member of the Castletownbere crew is mechanic Marney O’Donoghue.

“My job is planned maintenance, ensuring the boat and all equipment is fully serviced. Once the boat returns from a launch, it’s vital to get it ready for the next launch, you never know when the next call will come,” said Marney.

The station and its crew are in a constant state of readiness. When a call comes through from Valentia Coast Guard, Dean says there could be up to 15 crew show up to the station.

We can only take seven crew on the boat, if the weather conditions are very poor then we’d pick the more experienced crew. I brief them on the plan and how we’re going to do it safely.

Meanwhile Marney is making final checks on the boat and starting the engines, as time is crucial.

“We can launch within seven minutes of everyone getting to the station, minutes and seconds make a huge difference if someone is in trouble.”

One of the more challenging rescues the crew undertook was in 2018, when a fishing vessel went onto rocks in a force 9 gale. Dean was awarded an RNLI bronze medal for gallantry for saving the lives of the boat’s six crew.

Local fundraising is key to maintaining the service, and fundraising secretary Anne Finch, praises the community for their support.

“The people of Beara are very generous. We have a weekly lotto draw which is split between ourselves and CoAction, so far this year it’s raised €50,000. We have a shop at the station and will hold our annual flag day on the August bank holiday.”

Education is also important in preventing loss of life at sea, crew member Marc O’Hare promotes water safety awareness in local schools.