The Dart Operations team raised £1,200 with a Rowathon.
The 24 hour event in June was opened by local man, Cayle Royce MBE. He had rowed the Atlantic three times for Service charities since being severely wounded in Afghanistan.
Cayle found the rowing machines used for the event quite difficult. For his most recent Atlantic row, as Captain of the Row2Recovery team, he left his legs ashore and was velcroed into his non-sliding seat. The team took 46 days to cover the crossing and the four ex-servicemen had only three non-artificial legs between them.
Yorkie Lomas, a member of the RNLI Dart lifeboat crew taking part in the Rowathon and currently captain of the Dartmouth Amateur Rowing Club, took 36 days for his Atlantic crossing. He rowed with
three others from Dartmouth from La Gomera in the Canaries to Barbados; a record which stood for a considerable time.
Crispin Brabner, also on the Dart lifeboat crew, has recently completed this year’s extremely hot London marathon in 3 hours 34 minutes but took only 2 hours 55 minutes to cover the distance on the Rowing machine during the Rowathon.
The event was arranged by lifeboat crew member Katy Locke who is also Events Chairman in the Dartmouth Fundraising Branch. The crew collected individual sponsorship for their efforts. Donations were made to the Charity by the local boat building firm RibEye as well as the Dartmouth Chiropractic Clinic. Special guest DJ, Rich Baker, also contributed and covered the 24 hour event, with a little help from his friends, and did much to keep spirits up through the long hours of the night.
The Dartmouth Branch usually raises enough to cover the annual running expenses of the busy station which currently operates a D class inshore lifeboat. The crew are only too aware that fundraising activities will have to rise considerably when the ex-Salcombe Atlantic 75 lifeboat comes to the Dart this autumn to join the D class for a trial period of two years.
Key facts about the RNLI
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.
Learn more about the RNLI
For more information please visit the RNLI website or Facebook, X, TikTok and YouTube. News releases, videos and photos are available on the News Centre.
Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries
Members of the public may contact the RNLI on 0300 300 9990 (UK) or 1800 991802 (Ireland) or by email.