The first promising weekend of weather brought an influx of water users to Poole and surrounding waters this weekend.
On Friday (July 20) just as the Poole Coxswain, Mechanic and Lifeboat Operations Manager sat down to their dinner at the Poole and district fundraising summer ball the pagers rang out.
A 7.3m cabin cruiser that had reported to have no propulsion, the inshore lifeboat was tasked to assist and the volunteer crew arrived on scene just 10 minutes later and set up a tow to take the vessel and its occupant to a mooring off North Haven Yacht Club.T he Coxswain, Mechanic and Lifeboat Operation Manager returned for their main course.
On Saturday 21 July the Poole RNLI inshore lifeboat was launched just after 4pm to a cabin cruiser reported to be on fire in Cobb's Quay Marina. When the inshore lifeboat arrived on scene, they requested that the all-weather lifeboat launch as there was a fear that the fire might spread and that the crew may need to immediately evacuate people from the pontoons nearby.
The volunteer crew initially used their pump to boundary cool the vessel and then cordoned off the area to make it safe. They also checked on one person who was feared to have smoke inhalation and burns but was found to be okay.
They then assisted the fire service in setting up their equipment and the fire service then took over putting the fire out.
The all-weather lifeboat crew stood by until the area was safe and no further assistance was required and they returned to station at just after 5.15pm, with the inshore lifeboat returning 10 minutes later.
Sunday 22 July brought a sizzling hot Sunday and the Poole all-weather lifeboat navigated across Poole Bay to support the Mudeford Lifeboat crew at their station fun day. A steady stream of visitors had the opportunity to take a close look at the Poole Tyne class lifeboat.
While returning from the visit to Mudeford Lifeboat Station fun day across Poole Bay, Poole all-weather lifeboat was tasked just before 2.30pm to search for a vessel that had reported that an inflatable with children onboard was drifting in difficulty near Old Harry Rocks.
Swanage RNLI inshore lifeboat and Portland helicopter were on scene searching and Poole all-weather lifeboat was asked to search for the vessel that had made the first report to see if the crew could obtain more information about the incident as Portland Coastguard was unable to contact them again.
Two minutes later, the all-weather lifeboat was retasked to help a seven metre rigid inflatable (RIB) with eight people onboard, including four children. They were reported to be experiencing fuel problems and were drifting in the channel just outside Poole Harbour.
With the busy sunny Sunday afternoon coming to a close there was a concern that they would drift in the way of inbound vessels going back into Poole. The main channel was busy and high volumes of vessels were anticipated due to the sunny weather.
The all-weather lifeboat located them in the Swash Channel and was able to set up a tow and tow them securely back into Poole Quay Boat Haven, returning to station at 4pm and in the meantine, thankfully there was no further need for the lifeboat to return to the initial incident with the inflatable.
Later this evening as the volunteers were sparking up their barbecues, the pagers rang out, as an unfortunate 21ft Bayline vessel had encountered what they thought was damage to its head drive on the edge of Old Harry Rocks.
The vessel with two people onboard was making a little headway, as there was a strong ebb tide but was not certain it could make its way safely through the harbour so the inshore lifeboat was tasked to check out the vessel and standby and escort them back to their mooring at Sunseeker marina. The inshore lifeboat stood by and with the tide brought the vessel safely home.
RNLI media contacts
For more information please contact Anne-Marie Clark, RNLI Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer on 07887 855073 orjclark14@sky.com or Emma Haines on 07920 818807 or emma_haines@rnli.org.uk