Driven into every scout from their first day of Beavers is the motto: ‘Be Prepared’.
Four teenagers from 5th Port Dollymount Sea Scouts in north Dublin are good examples of this as, with quick thinking, they saved a man stricken in the water on Sunday afternoon.
A man came running up the beach from the nearby wooden bridge shouting to the scouts, who were taking their rowing boat out of the water at the back of their den on Bull Island, that someone was trapped under the bridge and was at risk of being swept out to sea.
The scouts quickly relaunched a skiff and Aoibheann Conlon (17), Laura Daly (17) and brothers Oisín and Gavin Weadick (both 16) rowed to the scene of the emergency.
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“It all happened so quickly, we didn’t have time to think about it as it was happening,” said Daly.
“We weren’t panicked,” Gavin Weadick told The Irish Times. “We were down here doing a leadership course, and had been doing man overboard drills earlier, so we were ready.”
The skiff was coxed by Jill Pitcher Farrell, the former chief scout of Ireland, who was helping to run the leadership course for older scouts.
“The guy was clinging on to a bridge pole, so we pointed the boat towards him. Aoibheann reacted really well, she was in the back of the boat holding on to him,” she said.
Pulling a fully grown person into the boat is a difficult job, Pitcher Farrell said, so “Oisín jumped into the back of the boat, and between the two of them, they were able to roll the man into the boat”.
Successfully rescuing the man, the scouts were met with applause from a growing crowd on the bridge.
“You don’t know this person, but they could be in trouble so you have to go and get them,” Oisín Weadick said.
Having done man overboard drills earlier in the day, the incident made the practice feel real for the scouts, they said.
“The swift reaction and how calm everyone was under pressure shone through, from the moment the person came asking for help, everyone was so quick to get the oars and get the boat back in the water,” Pitcher Farrell said. “These four were so fast to react to the situation.”
All 14 scouts on the course helped to get the boat into the water and watched from the slipway.
The colourful sight of the Sea Scouts’ boats is a near constant in the area, as are people diving off the wooden bridge on a sunny day.
This spot is a popular diving location, but there is no lifeguard protection and the area is one of the first affected by the changing tide.
The rescued man is understood to have been in his 30s and did not receive any significant injuries during the incident.
Howth Coast Guard was dispatched to the scene, as well as a boat from the RNLI base at Dún Laoghaire, an ambulance, and lifeguards from Dollymount beach.
A spokesman for the coast guard thanked the members of the public who threw down a ring buoy to the man, as well as thanking the sea scouts for their swift action.
“They arrived promptly by boat and took swift action. Thanks to their training and leadership, the scouts rescued the swimmer from under the bridge and brought them safely to shore.”
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