Three rescues in one week for Cowes RNLI on the river Medina

Cowes RNLI were first paged at 11:40pm on Wednesday night, and were tasked by the Coastguard to assist a single person aboard a 20ft vessel run aground south of the Folly Inn pub.

The crew launched the Sheena Louise and headed up the river, quickly locating the boat hard aground on the eastern bank. With a falling tide making maneuvering tricky, the crew approached the vessel and made contact with one person on board. In cold and wet weather and no chance of the anchored boat moving until the tide came in, the casualty was taken aboard the lifeboat and transferred to Folly Inn pontoon, where members of Ventnor Coastguard Rescue were waiting.

The RNLI crew were stood down by HM Coastguard and returned to station, washed down the boat and made it ready for the next shout.

Sure enough, the pagers sounded again just a few hours later, at 4.15am on Thursday, 16 April. HM Coastguard advised that two teenagers were stuck on a pontoon in the river after their dinghy experienced engine failure. One of their mothers had called to report her child overdue home, and said he was last known to be near the Folly. The boys were quite cold and a bit shaken, having been there a while and unable to ask for assistance, as both of their phones had died. The crew arrived and transferred both casualties to the lifeboat and back to Folly harbour, then returned to collect the dinghy.

The crew launched again on Sunday 19th April for a scheduled get-together of Solent RNLI stations, lifeboats and crew. At 10.20, HM Coastguard requested the crew attend to a reported person in the water by the Folly. On arrival, no such person was found, but reports came in of someone in need on a floating pontoon near Kingston Marina. The crew were greeted on arrival by a male casualty who had become unwell while on his boat and was in need of immediate medical attention. The crew assessed the casualty and transferred him to waiting ambulance paramedics, along with Ventnor and Bembridge Coastguard teams, who took him to St Mary’s Hospital for further treatment.

Many thanks to the Cowes Harbour Commission who transported two of the casualty’s family members and their pet bearded dragon over to Kingston Marina to follow the casualty in their car. The RNLI crew were stood down and returned to Trinity Landing to join crews from Calshot, Yarmouth and Portsmouth RNLI stations for the Solent get-together.

Myles Hussey, one of the station’s helms, attended all three shouts, and helmed two of them. After a few hours of sleep and a day of work, Myles was back at the station at 7pm for Thursday night training, ready for the next time our crew will be needed. Myles said:

“Many thanks to our volunteer crew who got out of bed twice on Wednesday night, and left their planned event on Sunday to help those in trouble at sea. This is what we train for and we are glad we could provide assistance where it was needed.”

The RNLI provides a 24-hour search and rescue service around the UK and Ireland and relies on donations by the public to fund its life-saving work. Anyone wishing to make a donation to the RNLI may do so by visiting https://rnli.org/pages/cro/donate

– Ends –

RNLI media contacts

• Sofia Voudouroglou, Cowes RNLI Volunteer Press Officer 07594051372/ [email protected]

• For enquiries outside normal business hours, contact the RNLI duty press officer on 01202 336789.

About Cowes RNLI Station

Cowes Lifeboat Station is converted from a former HM Customs Watch House, the rear of which is 300 years old. It looks out onto one of the world’s busiest shipping waterways and carries out a range of interesting services every year. It is the only station to be opened by Queen Elizabeth II.