Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A GROUP OF Irish sailors, climbers and kayakers say they are ‘still recovering’ after staging an epic, ten-week voyage to the Arctic Circle.
Organised by Jamie Young of Killary Adventure Centre as a novel way of celebrating his 60th birthday, the group of eleven set out to complete a 250km open sea kayak trip, complete a number of first ascent climbs, and – most importantly – arrive home safely to Galway by August.
Young told TheJournal.ie: “I had wanted to go to Greenland for a long, long time but the problem with going was I always work during the summer”.
“I’d been to the Antarctic before several times, but of course you do that in the winter. Once I turned 60 I felt I had to go.”
The ‘Killary Flyer’ photographed through an iceberg arch (Daragh Muldowney)
The journey took some time to organise (Young is now 61), but eventually the crew — complete with photographer Daragh Muldowney and documentarian Claire Riordan — were ready, and sailed from Galway on 14 June aboard former Admiral’s Cup racing yacht the ‘Killary Flyer’.
The 49 foot craft was buffeted by some “wild weather” on a rough Atlantic crossing, before the adventurers eventually reached their destination at Upernavik – well inside the Arctic Circle – and began exploring Greenland’s spectacular coastline, ice fjords and glaciers.
“The climbing was spectacular – such a fantastically wild, fantastically challenging environment,” Young said.
In some cases, those challenges overwhelmed the experienced team of climbers on the trip; Young says they were unable to complete a number of their planned ascents, “The Impossible Wall was one… It turned out to be impossible after all”.
Climber (software developer by trade) Stephen McGowan near Uumannaq, north-west Greenland
For photographer Daragh Muldowney, the aim was to capture the expedition and to work on more abstract pieces for an upcoming exhibition. “I’ve always been interested in ice,” he said.
“I’ve been fascinated with ice ever since I stood on the Fox Glacier in New Zealand – so I jumped at the chance to come on this trip when Jamie asked me.
“The plan was up in the air for a while, but I was lucky to get sponsored by Canon and Sandisk for the voyage. The last collection I did was analog images – this is the first time I’ll have used a digital set of equipment.
“There’s obviously a huge step up in terms of resolution. Of course the unbelieveably jaw-dropping scenery helped as well.”
‘Daragh’s Dilemma’ (photo by Colin Dillon)
Some of the finished photos took more work than others. The stunning picture of the Killary Flyer [above] sailing behind an arch in an iceberg took “a couple of fly-pasts” to get right; Muldowney captured the image from a dingy while the crew manoeuvred the ship into place.
Elsewhere, an image taken by team member Colin Dillon entitled ‘Daragh’s Dilemma’ [also above], captures the photographer training his lens on ice patterns in a glacial chasm.
“It was a water-filled crevice, with beautiful patterns. It was a little precarious in that the ice there is so smooth so there’s no grip. If I’d fallen in with all that gear it would have been cold and I would have just sunk, so no – that wouldn’t be good.”
For Young, meeting and learning about Greenland’s native Inuit people was by far the most fascinating aspect of the voyage.
“Yes, you certainly meet a lot of interesting people in these settlements. They’ve been there for thousands of years and they have a very different set of values to the western world, and they’re keen not to lose that.
“There’s also a split between the older and younger generations – a lot of the older generation would remember hunting and surviving on very little; the modern generation, they have the internet and they are going to college in Denmark, so the generations are very different.
The team from Killary go native in seal skin attire
The crew got to experience the native culture first hand when they attended an Inuit confirmation ceremony in one of the settlements. The menu comprised of polar bear, beluga whale and seal-meat, which Young said it “would of course” have been wrong to refuse.
“A lot of people here would of course think it odd to eat bear, but they regard polar bear as their cattle, seals as their chicken. Fish, of course, as their fish.
“There’s a real problem with pollution in the area, drifting up from America and falling in the sea – and there’s huge toxicity in the food system. So whenever someone says to them ‘well, you shouldn’t be eating polar bear’, they say ‘well, sort the pollution out’.”
As they set course for Ireland on the return journey, the Killary Flyer sailed right into a “terrific storm” which “put manners on everybody”.
According to Young “It was the strongest bit of weather I’d been in, so it did get to a stage where yes… we were concerned enough”.
The ship’s anemometer (which measures wind speed) only went up to 60 knots, he said, and was stuck at that mark for the duration of the 18 hour ordeal.
View of the Greenland coast, from the Killary Flyer
The crew arrived back into Killary Harbour on 15 August and are currently “readjusting to life ashore”.
Muldowney’s photography exhibition will be staged in Dublin in March of next year, it’s planned, with a documentary on the voyage expected at around the same time.
All photos: Daragh Muldowney & Colin Dillon. You’ll find more details on the voyage at northofdisko.com
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
A tragic story that I remember well. Heartache for the families to hear that had safety procedure been adhered to and more up to date equipment used, then loss of lives could have been prevented.
While there is no fine or penalty appropriate enough, the fines imposed are now having to be paid by a government funded body, so the council will have to tighten up their expenditure for a few years to cover that. So who is really being penalised here…??? How about pointing the finger at specific individuals who’s job it was to make sure the rules were adhered to. Why are these people being protected by the umbrella of basic politics again. Utterly crazy
Accountability within the establishment! I’m not putting money on that one.
In the public service the reason nobody is responsible for anything is because unions will use the victimisation card anytime an individual is asked to be held to account with the threat of strike, everyone is responsible,therefore nobody is liable,it stifles transparency and accountability and should not be tolerated in a democratic country.
‘Call Vetting’ Is the real emergency in the Irish Fire Services.
There is a saying that ‘timing is everything’ and nowhere is this truer than when it comes to the response of the emergency services to a 999 call. And few people understand the importance of time better than the men and women of the fire services who know all too well that when emergencies happen, and lives and safety are on the line, then minutes, and seconds count.
Imagine then the concern and frustration of fire and emergency service personnel throughout the country when they know that increasingly emergency 999 calls are subject to ‘Call Vetting’ by Chief Fire Officers who decide if an emergency call warrants the turn out of the fire service or not – and that these ‘Call Vetting’ decisions are being made in the interests of cost savings.
‘Call Vetting’ in its simplest is where a broader spectrum of calls are seeing a delayed response or no response at all from the Fire Service – it is a means of implementing tighter financial control on the provision of a vital public service.
Fire fighters as highly trained professionals regularly ask themselves – did we respond adequately to that emergency ?, could we have done more or better?, did we do everything possible in responding to the 999 emergency? It is part of our professional training to do so.
However, increasingly the concern of fire-fighters is that ‘Call Vetting’ as dictated to by the need to save money, is resulting in a delayed or indeed no response at all from the fire services, and that the public and communities throughout the country can no longer rely on the fire services to respond to emergencies.
We know that in certain regions of the country, Fire Control 999/112 control rooms on the instructions of Chief Fire Officers are requesting Gardai or HSE Ambulance service to check out incidents to see if Fire Service is required before the Fire Engines are mobilised. In effect this is a post code lottery that decides a response from the Fire Service!!
IFESA identified the use of ‘Call Vetting’ by Fire Officers and its negative impact on response times over a year ago. The National Ambulance Service denied that the practice was in place but last month it was reported that the National Ambulance Service (NAS) and the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management were in talks to try to reach agreement to allow the ambulance service request fire fighter assistance without being billed.
This report confirms the evidence that IFESA had compiled on the growing reliance and a more rigid interpretation of ‘Call Vetting’ of emergency 999 calls as a cost saving measure. Sadly and with reluctance IFESA have had to warn that the use of ‘Call Vetting’ is a disaster waiting to happen.
It is also blatantly obvious that using ‘Call Vetting’ as a crude mechanism of implementing more cutbacks in the Fire & Rescue service is a ‘false economy’ that makes short term savings at the expense of much bigger long term costs for the HSE and other agencies in the long run.
All the evidence (and indeed common sense ) shows that early intervention by fire and emergency ambulance services in certain medical emergencies cuts down on long term costs to the HSE and other services.
The public’s right to a full fire service is further threatened by the policy of inter-agency billing between the Gardaí, HSE and the fire and ambulance service, that is where the fire service charge the Gardai and HSE for a turn out at emergencies. This is a further pressure from management to justify why the fire service has been called to assist the public.
It is IFESA’s strong view that there should be No inter agency billing of emergency services.
It is time for the public and local public representatives to ‘Wake Up’ to the practice of ‘Call Vetting’ and the threat that it poses to the public and property, through the non-attendance of the fire services at emergency situations for cost cutting reasons.
For the public access to 999 emergency responses is a ‘safety net’ that provides protection and peace of mind. ‘Call Vetting’ removes that safety net and is increasing the risks to the public throughout the country.
A number if things amaze me about this case:
Why was the case taken against the Council as a corporate body only and not jointly with the people who had a duty of care to the Firemen?
Six years is a long time for the case to proceed? Why did it take so long?
The fine is approx 10% of what they could have been fined per charge? They were found guilty on three charges so the total fine could have been €9m. In the case of Nolan Transport, where two people died as the result of an accident, the company was fined €1m. So why the difference? Yes the cases are different but ultimately two died in each incident.
The Council initially pleaded not guilty to the four charges. The trial started and the Firemen’s families and colleagues had to relive the awful tragedy. On day four after some negotiations, they changed their plea to one of guilty but just for three charges. Why was the fourth charge dropped? Usually in a trial where the charged party forces a trial and later changes their plea, the trial judge usually “punishes” them for this; but not in this case. Why?
No Marty,At the time of the investigation a number of people had been arrested in connection with the deaths, including senior officials within the Wicklow fire service and the county manager Mr. Sheehy who is the ‘head’ of the fire service.The Chief Fire officer in charge at the time has retired since and of some officials have been promoted I believe.
Its incredible that fire services are run by county councils. A full review is required to nationalise this.
Another complete failure of public services with no accountability. Hogans reforms are completely wrong. Town councils should be left reporting to 4 or 5 regional councils.
The amount of the fine was irrelevant. The fact people weren’t held accountable was wrong.
A terrible tragedy for these men and their families.
The people in charge when this was allowed to happen. Have any of them quit their positions.
It seems incredible that emergency services would send out a scout to the scene of a fire/accident to make a further assessment of emergency personnel requirements to deal with the situation before actually sending help. We are told of the “Golden hour” for accident victims and how outcomes are affected by rapid response so obviously this time frame is not relevant in Ireland. I shudder to think I could be standing at my bedroom window while my house is on fire, waiting to be rescued and I notice someone watching me , using their mobile phone to advise how many should come……send them all..it’s an emergency , a fire doubles in size every minute.In relation to the two fire fighters who lost their lives, my heartfelt condolences to their families and colleagues in the fire services and shame on those in Wicklow Co. Council for their failures in policy which contributed to these deaths, financial considerations should never come before safety especially when we call our “999″ crews out.
There seems to be no accountability when it comes to government bodies etc,In a previous life working as a operations manager I had a duty of care for all of my employees.
This included making sure that all employees had up to date training,safety wear and that equipment and vehicles used had DOE etc.
Now if an accident or incident occurred while an employee was driving a vehicle,Which was not road worthy I could be dealing with the RSA for non road worthy vehicle.
The HSA for not providing a safe place for my employees to carry out their work etc,And I would be up in court on various charges along with the company.
It seems to be that if you are a manager or officer in certain public bodies and fcuk up,You are not accountable to anyone unlike the private sector.
have your say