THE Irish Marine Emergency Service called last night for people putting to sea to take elementary precautions so as to avoid forcing the State's rescue services into action.
Following the rescue early yesterday morning of two men from the Ballydavid area of Co Kerry under the cliff face at Brandon Head, Mr Tom Byrne, mission controller with the service, said that people often cost the State enormous amounts of money because they went out to sea without adequate skills or training.
Mr Byrne said that in the latest rescue, which involved services all along the western coast, a huge deployment of manpower and resources was necessary, and while the outcome was positive, insofar as two lives had been saved other issues were involved.
He said that because of the voluntary nature of the rescue services, it was impossible to quantify the cost of the rescue mission, but added that a considerable amount of time and energy had been expended in trying to find Mr Michael Fitzgerald and his friend, Mr Jimmy O'Connor, both in their 205, from Ballydavid, near Fenit, Co Kerry, who had set out on a fishing expedition without adequate sea skills.
The men had set out at 8.30 a.m. ion Tuesday from Brandon Creek on a fishing trip.
Their boat - a 20ft fibreglass craft shaped like a currach, which the men described as a canoe - was equipped with an outboard engine. They had life jackets but the boat contained no flares or other emergency gear. Both men were non swimmers and had no experience of boat handling.
Their boat was accompanied by another, and they arranged to rendezvous at Brandon Creek at 1 p.m.
When Mr O'Connor and Mr Fitzgerald failed to appear, the second boat raised the alarm, and a search of the area began, involving a helicopter from the Marine Rescue Service, lifeboats, mountain rescue services, local boats from Dingle and the Naval Service.
At nightfall, and in bad weather, the search was called off until first light yesterday morning, when a Dingle trawler spotted the two men under the rocks at Brandon Head.
The trawler alerted the rescue helicopter and the men were winched 200 feet to safety shortly after 6.30 a.m.
The helicopter, which winched the men to safety, was piloted by Capt Kevin McCarrick, who said that severe down draughts from the cliff face made the rescue particularly hazardous. Capt McCairick was forced to dump fuel at sea to reduce weight before the rescue could be attempted.
Mr Fitzgerald said yesterday that, shortly after setting out, the wind came up and the sea became very choppy. He and his friend decided to tarn back, but were unable to do so as the boat began to take in water.
"We tried to turn back but it was too difficult and we decided to make for the rocks under Brandon Head, where conditions seemed to be a lot calmer. We abandoned the canoe there and scrambled on to the rocks to wait for help to come."
Captain McCarrick said that the rescue helicopter - a Sikorsky S61N - was one of the most sophisticated in the world.