Killaloe Coastguard rescued four men following two emergency calls on Lough Derg on Friday evening.
The thirty second callout this year was to two men on board a small lake boat near Two Mile Gate on the Clare shore.
The duo had been on board a cruiser, which was anchored at Two Mile Gate, but due to the strong wind and rough water they got into difficulty.
A friend raised the alarm and rang emergency services. Killaloe Coast Guard launched their rib while a land crew went to Two Mile Gate by road.
Within 15 minutes of being paged, the Killaloe Coast Guard crew had taken the two men on board their rescue boat and brought them safely back to the cruiser.
After returning to base and standing down, the crew heard a call for help on their VHF radio on CH16.
The crew were then tasked by Valentia Coast Guard to relaunch and make their way to Mountshannon where a sail boat with two persons on board had ran aground and was in danger of doing damage to their boat.
The Lough Derg Lifeboat from Dromineer was also tasked.
Killaloe Coast Guard were on scene within 15 minutes and made contact with the two crew members, both men were unhurt and their boat had not been damaged.
Killaloe Coast Guard and Lough Derg Lifeboat were unable to get to the causality boat due to the shallow water.
However, Killaloe Coast Guard then tasked a second boat crew to launch their D Class Rib, which was able to get into the shallow area and attach a toe rope,
The causality vessel was then toed safely off the rocks without any damage and tied up at Mountshannon where a coastguard land crew assisted. Killaloe Coastguard and Lough Derg Lifeboat were then stood down and returned to base.
Killaloe Coastguard were back at their base in Killaloe at 10:50 pm after a long evening in bad weather conditions on Lough Derg.
Dan Danaher
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.