This article is from page 6 of the 2005-11-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
WHEN Gerry Sweeney left the pier in New Quay early JETS MA WV(crebslonree-himmaeleu sper reamm el tle did he know that he was about to face into the ordeal of his life.
Gerry had spent the early hours of Wednesday morning laying keep tanks and, as the weather began to worsen, he moved his boat to the Flaggy Shore. As he laid his final tank he lost his footing and plunged into the freezing water. Fail- ing to get back on deck, he had no choice but to hold on as the tide swept the boat out to sea.
“T had no choice but to hold on to the boat, take shelter from the weather and hope that it would drift out towards Deer Island,” he said.
As the boat drifted farther out to sea it became clear to Gerry that the boat would not reach Deer Island. He had no choice, he had to swim.
‘The hardest part was hold- ing on for the last 20 minutes. Leaving the boat I was fairly weak, I just decided to give it one last push.”
After making it to Deer Is- land, Gerry knew he had to find some shelter before the
storm worsened. Too weak to stand, he crawled to the top of Neo EDITOR
“When I got on to the island it was blowing force seven. I knew there was a mound of rocks on the top of the island. I had to get some shelter,’ he said.
Returning home after 10 pm, Gerry’s wife Martina knew that something was wrong.
COMA ACCU MANE KBE 0 MEO) the hob and that was unusual. I drove down to the pier and raised the alarm,” she said.
“It was a ferocious night,” said Gerry. “I knew that there were people out looking for me. They were risking every- thing by going out there.”
In force nine winds the Aran Galway Life Boat joined the search but it was the Shannon coast guard helicopter which finally spotted the stranded and weak fisherman.
“The first two times they flew over me,’ he said. “I put my life jacket back on so that they might see that.”
Visibility was so poor that the rescue teams could not even see the island and used the light of his life jacket to navigate. Just after 2 am, Ger-
ry was winched into the heli- copter and flown to safety. As he winged his way to Shan- non, the rescue teams joined
his family to celebrate.
“T would like to thank the Valentia coast guard, life boats from Galway and Aran,
the Doolin Coast Guard, the Shannon Helicopter crew and eround staff and all the locals who lent their support,” he
said. “They all came regard- less of the weather.”