Man rescued one mile offshore in toy dinghy by Redcar RNLI

Monday 31 July 2017

A man in a toy dinghy was rescued a mile offshore after he was carried away by wind and tide.

The alarm was raised just before 7.30pm on Monday 31 July 2017 after then man was seen drifting towards the Teesside Wind Farm at Redcar.

The Redcar inshore lifeboat was launched and found the man, wearing a hoodie and shorts, attempting to paddle against the wind and tidal currents but drifting further out to sea.

He was taken on board the lifeboat and returned to the beach where a coastguard team was waiting to give him sea safety advice.

Dave Cocks, Lifeboat Operations Manager at Redcar RNLI said: 'This is a good example of the types of incident we repeatedly warn people about.'

'It was a reasonably pleasant evening but the wind and tide were a recipe for this to happen. We believe the man was in his 30s. He was dressed in only a hoodie and shorts. He was bigger than the dinghy so his feet were hanging over the edge.

'If the alarm hadn't been raised there was every likelihood he'd have drifted out of sight of land and we could well have been bringing a dead body back.'

The RNLI's Respect The Water campaign focuses on the dangers the sea can present, and in particular the effects of cold water are being highlighted. For more information on sea safety and the Respect The Water campaign, visit rnli.org.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Attached are images show the rescue of the man in a toy dinghy. Credit RNLI/Redcar.

Redcar lifeboat station has been operating since 1802.

Redcar currently operates a B-class lifeboat named Leicester Challenge III, paid for by the people of Leicester, and an IB1-class lifeboat named Eileen May Loach-Thomas, paid from the legacy of the late Nicolas Thomas of Shropshire.

For more news, information and images go to www.redcarlifeboat.org.uk

Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/redcarrnli

Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RedcarRNLI

RNLI media contacts:

For more information please contact Dave Cocks, RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager on 07894 558 483 the RNLI Public Relations on 01202 336789; [email protected]

A man was rescued after the toy dinghy he was in was blown a mile out to sea.

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The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.

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Man rescued one mile offshore in toy dinghy by Redcar RNLI

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