Lifeboat and helicopter in mid-Solent medical emergency

The emergency occurred in the Solent, about one and half miles off Osborne Bay. The yachtsman, one of a number aboard 40-foot-yacht on charter from Port Solent, Portsmouth, had collapsed after suffering a fit, and was in a very weakened state in the cockpit.

The lifeboat helm, Mark Harker transferred Dr Will King and another crew member, Anne Simkins, to the yacht to assess the man’s condition. They were then joined by a paramedic who had been lowered from the helicopter, together with full medical kit.

Eventually it was decided the man, still in a collapsed state but conscious, should be taken by the yacht to Gunwharf Quay, Portsmouth, where he was transferred on a stretcher to an ambulance.

After escorting the yacht to Portsmouth, the now fully crewed lifeboat stopped briefly off Lee-on Solent for the paramedic to be winched back up into the helicopter.

The lifeboat, which had launched at 3.40 pm, had been off station for just over two hours. It was the first for-real shout for one of the four crew, Mark Crook, who had been undergoing training on the lifeboat earlier in that day.

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.

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