Brave Rose Lynch was one of the heroes of last Wednesday’s dramatic shipwreck off the Cork coast when an engine failure caused the 42m Tall Ship, Astrid, to drift onto the rocks and break up in heavy seas.
The 16 years old from Ballymoney, escaped unharmed in the incident, and was the focus of media attention with her account of what happened finding its way onto the pages of the international press.
Eight Irish trainees were on the training ship, a square rigger that was leading a parade of sail for the Gathering cruise out of Oysterhaven harbour on the way to Kinsale ahead of making the voyage to France.
“It was about 11.45 am when the engine broke down and the wind and the tide just pushed us towards the rocks and the boat sank,” recalled Rose, who added that there was “no panic on board.”
She felt that everyone was a bit frightened, but no one’s life was in danger.
“It was all very calm, everyone knew what they were doing,” added Rose, who joined Courtown Sailing Club when she was just nine years old.
Neither of her parents had a sailing background. “I had been trying new things and stuff, so I decided I would try sailing and I stuck with it.”
Rose is now an assistant training instructor at Courtown and she credits her training there as being a big help to her survival.
“It gave me the common sense to stay calm in situations like that.”
There were emotional scenes on the quayside when Rose was reunited with her mother, Mary O’Driscoll, who was driving to Kinsale to meet up with her daughter.
Mary said: “I was about half an hour away when a friend called me and she said is Rose OK!
“I rang my husband, Frank and he was updating me on what he was hearing on the news.”
Mary was further reassured a short time later when she took a call from Rose. “She was very calm.”
Rose who is a student at Gorey Community School was on a trip of a lifetime that started out from Southampton on July 14th and was expected to continue until July 29th.
It was Rose’s mum who encouraged Rose to sail aboard the Astrid.
Rose returned to her home on Thursday, and after a well deserved rest, she visited Courtown Sailing Club on Friday, where she vowed she would do it all again; “You can only gain experience from it.”
Rose recalled the loss of personal possessions such as laptops, phones and money, but these things are “immaterial.”
“It is experiences like this that make you realise how invaluable life is,” she stated.
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