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Ten sailors were fortunate to escape injury on Sunday afternoon after their yacht was blown onto rocks in Crosshaven, Co Cork.
The incident occurred shortly after noon in strong winds and blustery conditions. A J109 yacht racing in the October league ran aground at rocks at Weaver’s Point.
Crosshaven lifeboat volunteers made their way to the scene along with the Crosshaven Coast Guard RIB.
En route the crew were flagged down by a passing yacht and told that a crewman was overboard on another yacht on the eastern side of the channel near White Bay.
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The RNLI lifeboat veered off to White Bay where they found the crewman back aboard his yacht. No further assistance was needed.
Lifeboat members subsequently found that the the crew on the grounded yacht had scrambled ashore. Two of the 10 crew had been in the water for a period and went to the lifeboat station for a hot shower and change of clothes.
The grounded yacht ran aground three hours before low water in a very lumpy sea.
Conditions were extremely challenging as winds off the southwest coast reached force six with a small craft warning in place from Met Éireann for offshore waters.