What is going on? you may ask - two interviews with Decisions for Heroes' Team Members in two weeks? 

But how could I not interview Donnchadh after his great performance at JSAR last weekend.

Apparently the Canadian Cup win for the best inter regional team had nothing whatsoever to do with the other members of the team...

So over to you Donnchadh;

From the age of 16 I have been involved with SAR in some way. I worked as a lifeguard for several years and studied Outdoor Adventure Management also known as the 'Shackleton' course in college for 3 years. This had me working in various training schools around the country where I got to meet and know people involved in the RNLI, Coast Guard, Mountain Rescue and various other teams and organisations.

I'm now based in Dublin, Ireland. My day job has me working with rescue teams and organisations around the globe helping them to optimise their responses and make their teams smarter in an effort to help them save more lives.

I work freelance as a powerboat instructor, safetyboat instructor and advanced powerboat instructor working under the Irish Sailing Associations guidelines. This has me working with response teams such as Coast Guard, Fire Brigade, Gardaí (Irish police) and private individuals around the country. It most recently had me delivering a 42ft motor cruiser from Dublin to Wales on a perfect day.Needless to say, I love what I do!!

I'm also an operational member with Howth Coast Guard, a voluntary coastal rescue unit of the Irish Coast Guard (IRCG). http://www.howthcoastguard.com/

We are a first response cliff rescue team, searchteam and a lifejacket compliance monitoring boat team. While the boat is afloat it is available for tasking to incidents but while it's in the station house it is a second response resource available for assisting in searching, pollution incidents and various other activities.

I am a trained and qualified cliff rescue andcasualty recovery instructor for the IRCG along with being the boattraining officer for the Howth Unit. I also held the position of equipment officer for a year responsible for the maintenance and inspection of the team's cliff rescue equipment.

My hobbies are then anything fun and outdoors!Mostly water sports but if it gives me a buzz I'll give it a try. I'm abit of an adrenaline junkie I think it's safe to say.

How did you get into SAR?

I was working with a powerboat training school in Dublin that was training up Irish CoastGuard crews and helms from units along the east coast of the country. I met some of the guys from my local unit here and they planted the seed in my head to get involved.

At the same time I was working for a tour boat company taking customers out on 9 metre RIBS on tours of Dublin bay. I got friendly with 2 of the other drivers who were also in my local unit and they got me to pop down to the station one evening. I was greeted at the door by the Deputy Officer in Charge, who I had spent the last sailing season racing against in the same keelboat fleet! Knowing the guys made it easy to get involved but everyone on the team was so welcoming and friendly.

He got me to come down to the next training session and I knew straight away that this was something I was going to love.

What was your most memorable SAR moment?

The most memorable one with a good outcome has to be when I was on the helm one night on the way back to the station after some night navigation exercises with the crew. We were tasked to a Mayday call from a charter fishing vessel that had run aground in breaking waves at the entrance to a local estuary.

We managed to get 11 people off the vessel, none of which had a word of English, bring them safely ashore and also tow the 15 ton vessel clear and into deeper water where it was then able to make it's way safely to the marina.

The darkness and noise of the waves breaking and crashing against the side of the vessel made it a tricky one to get right but we managed alright. That one had the adrenaline pumping!!

What would you most like to see change?

In my team's response area there are several agencies at work that have a certain amount of cross over in what they do. There could definitely be an improvement in how these agencies work with each other. From what I've heard this seems to be a common issue in several places.

What piece(s) of kit couldn't you do without?

My sunglasses! I'd be blind without them. Them and my heavy wooly bear. Helicopter wet-winching training in the middle of winter in the Irish Sea would be very cold without it!

What is/are your favourite SAR websites?

I've found Facebook is a great way of keeping up to date with the latest SAR news.

And you obviously can't forget http://www.sarworld.org/

What is you favourite website/piece of software/app?

Withouta shadow of a doubt it would have to be 'Decisions for Heroes', web-based rescue team management and analytics software. http://www.decisionsforheroes.com/

I'd have to say that of course as I'm the Lead Team Contact for the company!

Who inspires you?

All of the voluntary rescue team members and team leaders. I work with team leaders from around the globe every day and I'm constantly amazed at how they manage to run an efficient rescue team along with their day job and family life, especially those with kids!!