THE State's largest island welcomed its first offshore lifeboat this week when the Waveneyclass Helen Turnbull picked up its new mooring off Achill's Cloghmore Pier. The all-weather craft will be crewed by Achill volunteers who have trained at the Royal National Life-Boat Institution (RNLI) headquarters in Poole, Dorset, England, over the past month. It will cover Clew Bay, the coastline north to the Mullet peninsula and south to Galway Bay.
The establishment of the station comes at a time of increasing pressure on search-and-rescue services. There were 100 such incidents in the Clew Bay area between 1989 and 1994.
The campaign for the Achill lifeboat dates back to January, 1994, when a committee was set up, chaired by former fisherman, Mr Michael Patten. Final crew selections from a panel of over 20, including two women, has yet to be made.
The acting honorary lifeboat secretary is Achill architect, author and cartographer, Mr Bob Kingston. The full-time mechanic is Mr Stephen McNulty, with Dr Paddy Lineen appointed honorary medical officer.
In the past eight years, six RNLI inshore and offshore stations have opened on the west coast.
