A SHORELINE search continued late last nights for the body of a man washed overboard yesterday from a yacht moored at Clogher Head in Co Louth.
Heavy seas and high winds prevented several attempts by the Air Corps Alouette helicopter to winch the yachtsman's body from the seas after it located him off the coast during the day.
The rescue attempt began when the Clogher Head lifeboat was launched shortly after 9 a.m. It had received reports that the man, believed to be from Shankill, Co Dublin, was hit by a wave as the 30 foot Irish registered yacht Sea Warrior, with a crew of three, made preparations to lift anchor.
According to the Irish Marine Emergency Service (IMES), "they were trying to go to sea for a day's sailing and were going through the motions of getting ready to sail when a person was washed over board."
The yacht was struck by a wave just as it slipped anchor about 400 yards from the pier. The sailor was washed overboard and the vessel hit the rocks. The two others on board were rescued shortly afterwards and the lifeboat contacted the Irish Marine Emergency Service.
A spokesman said that the weather conditions were "ferocious with gale eight and gusting more". The IMES called in the Air Corps Alouette helicopter from Baldonnel. It located the sailor and the winchman was down in the water several times, trying to lift the yachtsman, but was unable to do so because of high seas.
"The yacht was in safe moorings when the gale came up. The wind just flew in from the northeast; because his anchor was down he couldn't get away. Before he could get the anchor up, he was washed overboard," said Mr Patrick Hodgins, secretary of the Clogher Head lifeboat. He said the yacht had anchored in waters between the pier and shore for the night. It was believed it was en route to Carlingford, further up the east coast.
Mr Hodgins said he had spoken by radio with the missing man who was about to up anchor and set sail. A few minutes later he was overboard and Mr Hodgins said he raised the alarm at approximately 9.30 a.m. "The boat was washed in and the other people walked out of her ... they were very lucky," he said.
The two others who were rescued from the boat were said to be a young girl and the skipper of the yacht. They had arrived in Clogher Head around 5 p.m. on Sunday and were expected to continue their journey yesterday morning.
The Shannon based Sikorsky SW61 helicopter, which has a heat seeking device, was called to the scene hut because at that stage the man had been in the water for some time, the device was unable to locate him. The tide turned at 5 p.m. beginning to rise again and rescuers carried out a shoreline search for the body.
. Meanwhile a search continued yesterday about 215 miles off the north west coast for a crewman missing from a Scottish fishing vessel. The trawler Aurora lost power and one of the five crew was swept overboard north west of Co Mayo. The vessel was out of the rescue range of the Irish Marine Emergency service but it made radio contact with other ships and fishing boats in the area for the Clyde coastguard.
