Portaferry RNLI crew receive awards for rescue of two kayakers during storm at Strangford Bar
Four RNLI volunteer crew members involved in a rescue in 2022 have been awarded the charity’s Chief Executive Commendation for their courage and seamanship during the lifesaving rescue of two people who got into difficulty while kayaking.
Helm on the call out, Dave Fisher and crew Russell McGovern, George Toma and Darren Coles launched the inshore lifeboat on Monday 7 November 2022. Conditions on launching were cloudy with good visibility, with a strong force six south-westerly wind and moderate sea state.
After a search of Kilclief Bay, crew were requested by HM Coastguard to move further out of Strangford Lough and continue the search.
The lifeboat crew moved towards Strangford Bar and Killard Point and after assessing sea conditions were about to request support from flanking RNLI stations, Newcastle and Donaghadee.
Also the stations all-weather lifeboats were also considered when a Coastguard helicopter informed the lifeboat crew that one of the individuals was now reported to be in the water and was at risk of being lost before other assets arrived.
With this new and critical information, the crew decided to commit to Strangford’s bar mouth and commenced a search one mile east of St. Patrick’s Rock where they faced a strong force wind storm with an unpredictable and rough sea state with breaking swells of 9-10m.
One of the crew onboard was Dave Fisher who was on his first rescue since passing out as a helm.
Dave said: ‘It is a great honour for each of us to receive this commendation from the Chief Executive and I’m thankful to the rest of the crew on the lifeboat that day for their courage and commitment.’
Russell McGovern added: ‘Conditions had been building for a couple of days and when we headed out over Strangford Bar we were dealing with a storm hitting against a full spring ebb tide.
“A challenging time to be out there. In seas like that you can only see as far as the next wave, George did well to catch a glimpse of the kayak.
“Fortunately, both casualties were found, brought ashore at Strangford pontoon and transferred to Northern Ireland Ambulance Service for medical assessment. “
