French family rescued from yacht in north Dublin harbour

A French family of five was rescued from a grounded yacht in Skerries Bay, north Dublin yesterday morning.

The Irish Coast Guard received a mayday call at 4.50am from the vessel which had moored for the night in the bay. The Skerries and Howth lifeboats, the Coast Guard and Rescue 116 were all alerted.

However when Skerries lifeboat crew got to their station they could see the 35 foot long yacht lying on its side on the rocks to the rear of the station.

The tide was dropping so the crew in drysuits, lifejackets and helmets waded out to the family, which included two adults and three teenagers. They brought them ashore to safety.

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Later in the morning the vessel was refloated by lifeboat teams and brought to the safety of Skerries harbour.

Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer for Skerries RNLI, Gerry Canning said: ‘It was a stroke of luck where the boat ended up and things could have been a lot worse. They got a bit of a scare, but there was very little damage to the boat and they should be able to continue their holiday.”

Ivan Longmore, station officer with the Irish Coast Guard said the family are all in good spirits.

They had been in the Skerries area for more than 48 hours. It appears their yacht broke its moorings and the tide took it out onto the rocks at the mouth of the harbour.