A man who go into difficulty while paddle-boarding off the Clare coast on Friday evening has been located safe and well.
At around 9.30pm, watch officers at the Irish Coast Guard’s marine rescue coordination centre on Valentia Island in Kerry mounted a search and rescue operation after the paddle-boarder managed to raise the alarm himself.
It’s understood he called 999 using his own phone and reported he was unable to make his way back to Doolin from where he had set out earlier. He told Coast Guard staff he was north of Aill Na Searrach at the time.
The Doolin unit of the Irish Coast Guard was tasked while the Shannon based search and rescue helicopter was also scrambled. The National Ambulance Service was alerted and requested to dispatch resources to Doolin.
In the meantime, Coast Guard watch officers issued a Pan-pan radio message asking any vessel in the vicinity of Aill Na Searrach and the Cliffs of Moher to keep a look out for the paddle-boarder and to assist if possible.
Doolin Coast Guard launched their rescue rib (rigid inflatable boat) and made their way to the man’s last know location and commenced a search along with Rescue 115.
Soon afterwards, the helicopter crew reported seeing the paddle boarder about a nautical mile (1.8kms) west of Hags Head and over 2.5 nautical miles (4.5kms) south of the position he originally reported.
The Doolin Coast Guard boat crew was alerted quickly made their way to the scene where they recovered the casualty onto their vessel.
Winds up to force 6 were reported in the area and kept blowing the casualty away the shore and out to sea. It’s understood he was adrift for around an hour.
Once it was confirmed that the paddle boarder did not require any urgent medical attention, Rescue 115 was stood down. The casualty was taken by Coast Guard boat back to Doolin to await arrival of ambulance paramedics so he could be assessed.
