Derry man's design skills will help save lives in Donegal lough

A Derry man has designed a new lifeboat which will save lives on Lough Swilly in Donegal.

The new €2.4m lifeboat will be based at the Lough Swilly RNLI station in Buncrana from next April.

Construction of the cutting edge vessel is currently underway at Lymington in England.

It will replace Lough Swilly’s current all-weather Tyne class lifeboat the “Robert and Violet.”

Designed by RNLI Naval Architect Peter Eyre, who is from Derry, the boat boasts a unique hull designed to minimise slamming in heavy seas, shock absorbing seats to further protect the crew from impact, and will be able to reach 25 knots, making lifesaving more efficient and effective than ever before.

Lough Swilly RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager John McCarter said: “This is a historic day for Lough Swilly lifeboat station.

“We were established as an inshore lifeboat station in 1988 and in 2000 received our first all weather lifeboat.

“In those years Lough Swilly lifeboats have launched 710 times, sometimes in very challenging conditions, to help those in trouble at sea.”