Fastnet Rock Rescue: why should we pay for this.

Once again, has anyone bothered to see if money has been paid or will be paid? People just seem to be ranting on an assumption.

Still struggle to see how a story about 21 lives being saved can be spun into something negative. Only in Ireland.
 
micmclo said:
Look at Galway Races, they have security and ambulances on site and that has to be paid for
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For the Galway Races and similar events (GAA etc.), the services are actually provided (whether or not they are used) - there are paramedics standing around and ambulances driven to the event to be on standby. I don't think the Fastnet Race (or most yacht races) would call on external rescue every time - most years the race passes without major incident.
And what if someone doesn't pay their levy - should the RNLI refuse to rescue them? That's not the way they operate. I would much rather see them levy muppets who put to sea on a sunny day in Dublin Bay in a child's inflatable boat with no lifejacket...

Sunny said:
Once again, has anyone bothered to see if money has been paid or will be paid? People just seem to be ranting on an assumption.

Still struggle to see how a story about 21 lives being saved can be spun into something negative. Only in Ireland.
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I agree - it's bizarre. Agree, we don't know yet whether the race organiser do have to make a contribution as part of getting their licence to run the race. - I did read that the guys who were rescued have said that they will help with fundraising for the Baltimore lifeboat. And even at that, the thread was started as a rant because 'we' are picking up the tab for this - but the RNLI gets no government funding so I don't know what people are yakking about - some fuel for the helicopters which probably would have been doing training rescues as the staff are on duty anyway?
 
orka said:
And what if someone doesn't pay their levy - should the RNLI refuse to rescue them? That's not the way they operate.
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People would be rescued regardless.

I dont see this as an issue. Competitions such as this are sanctioned by the NGB - Sailing Ireland in this case. In most sports, people who dont pay get suspended and generally speaking, NGB suspensions are recognised worldwide. So if they refused to pay, they'd never race again. NGB can also refuse to sanction the event if the organisers have a history of non-payment.
 

I'm sure this particular NGB and it's members are very good supporters of the RNLI, so in effect are funding it. If the RNLI had any issues, no doubt they would be making use of the extensive press coverage they are currently getting to make that point. The fact that they're not suggests they are happy with the current arrangement.
Leo
 
Nai mentioned marshalls and medics at motorcycle races earlier. Just thought I'd point out that these people are volunteers.

The medics (either paramedics or doctors) are there on their own time, and their medical equipment is funded by donations, sponsorship and from the race entry fees.
 
I'd be more upset that the Baltimore lifeboat rescued Charlie Haughey when his yacht sank off Mizen Head in 1985.
 

Sunny said:
By the way, we should be praising the people who carried out the rescue.
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The RNLI is actually a British based organisation. I presume they have British Government funding and I know that the RNLI have a lot of fundraisers here every year. A close relative of my wife owes his life to the RNLI and we're always more than happy to contribute to their cause.

I agree very strongly with Sunny. As a West Cork man, I'm very proud of the wonderful job they did and I was delighted to hear on RTE that the Baltimore Lifeboat website was inundated with congratulatory messages from all over the world.
 

Shame on you hastalavista and anyone agreeing with your ignorant views!

The Round Ireland and Fastnet Yacht Races are among the most challenging and best known yacht races in the world which give Ireland and the Irish a lot of good publicity. Brave and skilled RNLI volounteers and good people of Baltimore have done us proud this week!

The tax payer does not pick up a tab for this kind of rescue missions. Us sailors make geneours and frequent contributions to RNLI because we know it could be any one of us. Naval vessel just happened to be near by and it came to rescue because that's what's done. Anyone with a grain of seamanship in them would go to rescue if they knew they were needed.

In this particular case, the yacht capsized in 15 seconds and the crew had no time to get the life raft (which they had thoroughly inspected together with all their other safety equipment prior to the race) or call Mayday.

csirl said:
I dont agree that its not practical. Given the profile of this event, surely they could afford to have 3-4 rescue craft spaced along the route? Surely they could afford to have a rescue helicopter on standby?
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This is not practical because bigger and faster yachts can be hundreds of miles ahead of smaller ones. Rambler was one of the biggest in the race even though you would generally expect smaller yachts to get into trouble in heavy weather. So where would you put this helicopter? Also, yachts don't travel at great speeds (20-30kn would be the speed of bigger yachts, and maybe 7-12kn of smaller yachts), so those helicopters you are talking about would virtually hover over the fleet which in turn would 'dirty' the wind and cause all kinds of other stuff which is not in the spirit of the sport.
 
Lex Foutish said:
The RNLI is actually a British based organisation. I presume they have British Government funding
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No. Their income is all from legacies, fundraising and merchandise sales. That's why this thread has been ridiculous from the start. 'We' didn't pay for this so 'we' shouldn't complain on behalf of the RNLI who don't seem unhappy with the weeks events.
 
Sunny said:
Still struggle to see how a story about 21 lives being saved can be spun into something negative. Only in Ireland.
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I assume the bile arises from the yacht owner being wealthy.

Yet another example of people being unable or unwilling to differentiate between the cost of something, and it's value.
 
TarfHead said:
I assume the bile arises from the yacht owner being wealthy.
Yet another example of people being unable or unwilling to differentiate between the cost of something, and it's value.
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hastalavista said:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0815/yacht.html
The yacht cost c $10 million and the owner is a zillionaire and yet we, the Irish tax payer are expected to pick up the tab when they get wet.
I think we should have let them sink.
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Yes, TaftHead, all I see from hastalavista is begrudgery and a nasty resentment of those with more than them.
hastalavista, how do you feel about the idea that rich people pay more taxes and so should get preferential treatment when accessing state services? No? I didn't think so.
 
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