SURVIVALL
ou are reading‘Outsider’.You escapades you went through? Of you realised you had no compass.And
live in Ireland.So it’s a fair guess course you have! It’s called growing it was 40 minutes from sunset? And yourY
that you like being outside in up! It’s called testing yourself! It’s the small group of friends looked at you and
the elements;OK so far?You travel as recklessness of youth.Rather than be shy realised you might not be able to lead
much as you can, in Ireland and abroad, of recalling those anecdotes, you should them to salvation? Found yourself in
following your chosen pursuit.The be proud of them. jeopardy? Sound familiar?You fool!
media charts our society’s decline into And as a young adult, have you Actually you’re not a fool.You are
obesity, chronic television watching and paddled into a wave and then realized one of the ones that got away with it.
poor health.But for you it doesn’t ring that you had timed it badly? A few days But many don’t, and thanks be to God,
true.You are pretty fit, maybe extremely surf school and suddenly you want to in Ireland we have one of the most
fit.You are an adrenaline junky, or at least surf the big waves that everyone looks sophisticated and dedicated rescue
an aspiring one. Right again? at onYouTube! Suddenly you realised as networks in the world.Bar none. I should
So let’s trace this back a few years. the roar of the oncoming wave got closer, know;I worked in it for over 10 years.
Did you climb high walls to rob apples that you were no longer in control?
from neighbours when you were a child? Or did you ever scramble up a “…because all of them love
Have you a couple of scars from stitches, mountain, only to find it turn vertical and
proudly earned trying to jump and run that you could not climb up or down? life, love the outdoors, and
and climb as a teenager? Have you a few And you had no ropes, or phone with
‘nearly-got-killed-one- you? And what about the time you went understand that accidents are
summer’stories into cloud, got lost in the
about Macgillycuddy’s not only caused, but do just
Reeks, your map
blew away happen, they come to your aid.”
and
I was a helicopter rescue pilot, a
part of a closely knit team.First with the
Irish Army Air Corps and then with the
Irish Coast Guard. Flying rescues and
searches by day and night, all around the
coast of Ireland, amongst our mountains,
along our lakes and rivers.Working
David Courtney – a rescue pilot with some 300 missions under his belt.
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