St Ives RNLI lifeboat went to the rescue of a 49ft ex pilot boat
On 3 October at 7.20am, following a request from Falmouth Coastguards, the St Ives Shannon class all-weather lifeboat, ‘Nora Stachura, was launched to assist a 49 foot ex pilot boat ‘FV Tiger’. With two persons on board, the vessel was on passage from Holyhead to Southampton.
The PV Tiger had suffered a fouled propeller 4 miles northwest of Gurnard’s Head and required a tow back to port. Sea conditions at the time were rough with good visibility and light winds.
Due to the low tide at St Ives, the St Ives RNLI coxswain, Robert Cocking, Falmouth Coastguards and the Penlee RNLI coxswain, Patch Harvey, agreed that it would be more practicable to tow the disabled ‘PV Tiger’ into Newlyn harbour.
The Penlee all-weather lifeboat, ‘Ivan Ellen’, was launched at 9.30am and rendezvoused with the ‘Nora Stachura’ at a point 3 miles WNW of Gwennap Head.
The tow was successfully passed over to the Penlee lifeboat with a safe return into Newlyn harbour at 1.00pm. St Ives RNLI crew on duty – Coxswain Robert Cocking, Scott Perkin 2 nd coxswain, Robin Langford mechanic/2 nd deputy coxswain, voluntary crew – Barney
Stevens, David Holland-Kemp, Sue Antcliff, Crispian Jones and Sam Bassett.
Later in the day, the St Ives RNLI inshore lifeboat was requested by the Falmouth Coastguard to go to the aid of a yacht in the Godrevy area.
A member of the public made a 999 call reporting a yacht in an unsafe area and appearing to be in need of assistance.
At 2.30pm, the St Ives inshore lifeboat launched in good conditions with Dave Chard at the helm along with volunteer crew, Jack Coop and Jake Martin.
On arrival at the scene, it was deemed to be more beneficial for the male crewman and his 25ft yacht, ‘Rain Goose’, which was on route to Padstow, to be escorted back to a mooring off St Ives harbour. Whilst there, the RNLI crew gave advice on the safest passage to navigate out of the bay and onwards to Padstow.
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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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