On the eve of the National Boat Show's opening today in Dublin, Met Éireann says it is introducing an extra warning service for small craft during the spring and summer months.
The "Small Craft Warning" will provide information on winds reaching a minimum of Beaufort Force 6 (or a minimum of 22 knots mean speed) on Irish coastal waters up to 10 nautical miles offshore. The warnings will be delivered from April to September this year.
Transmission will be on the marine VHF channel by the Irish Coast Guard, and the warnings will also be included on Weatherdial forecasts and on Met Éireann's website at www.met.ie, according to the service.
Met Éireann says it is aimed primarily at those whose "operating thresholds" at sea are below those catered for by the existing gale warning service. The service is being initiated in response to representations from its many customers in the marine community, it says.
A review will take place at the end of September to see if it should become an annual fixture, Met Éireann said yesterday.
"Stay Safe on the Water" is one of the boat show's themes, and Irish Water Safety said that 81 drownings directly related to recreational boating had occurred over the past decade. It said the 30 to 50 year age group accounted for half of that total. The show will run at the RDS up to the weekend.
"With the recent rise in leisure boating activity nationwide, boat users of all ages need to realise that there is no room for complacency when it comes to safety," the organisation said yesterday. It said it urged people to wear a personal flotation device to ensure that they "came home safely".
Alcohol consumption was still a contributing factor in many water-related deaths, the organisation said. In the past five years, 30 per cent of victims had consumed alcohol, according to its analysis.