Boat towed to safety after getting caught in fishing gear off Wicklow coast

Arklow RNLI responds as vessel gets into difficulty during sailing regatta

An Arklow RNLI boat towing a motor cruiser on Sunday. Photograph: Arklow RNLI/Facebook
An Arklow RNLI boat towing a motor cruiser on Sunday. Photograph: Arklow RNLI/Facebook

Arklow RNLI rescued a motor cruiser with two crew off the Co Wicklow coast on Sunday when the boat got caught in fishing nets.

The motor cruiser was acting as a support boat for a sailing regatta when its propeller got caught in fishing gear and the Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) was called. The MRCC then tasked the local RNLI lifeboat to respond.

The Arklow RNLI towed the cruiser about 0.4km into Arklow harbour.

An MRCC spokesman described the incident as “quite a routine job. We get a lot of those around the coast at this time of the year.

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“They just get their propellers fouled on either lobster pots or fishing gear and we just sent the local lifeboat out to tow them in.”