St Ives RNLI volunteer crew launches 4 times in 24 hours

For the crew the weekend kicked off on Saturday 13 July at 12.32pm with the pagers sounding. Falmouth Coastguard requested both RNLI all-weather and inshore lifeboats to respond to reports of a climber who had fallen into the sea and required assistance at the Commando Ridge area.

Once the volunteer crews arrived on scene, they could see that Helicopter Rescue 924 was already there along with St Ives and Penzance Cliff Rescue. They set to work putting two volunteer crew members ashore, the crew were able to assist the helicopter paramedic with extracting the casualty who we believed to have been in the water for approximately 8 minutes and swallowed water - therefore requiring medical attention.

Once the casualty was successfully extracted and onboard the Helicopter Rescue 924 the casualty was then transferred to hospital and immediate attention, the crew then made their way back to the station to ready the boat again for service.

Not long after returning on Saturday afternoon, the pagers sounded again at 4.42pm and our inshore lifeboat launched. The volunteer crew quickly made their way to Hayle Bar to assist the lifeguards with a jet skier. The crew arrived on scene and were delighted to see that the jet skier was prepared and wearing full safety equipment. Because of this the crew could perform a tow to the rescue water craft, so the casualty could board. The crew then brought the jet ski alongside, put springs on it and took it to the canoe ramp at Hayle.

Just as the inshore crew were completing the second shout, the crew were paged again for the third time. Our lifeguards at Gwithian needed help, reports of kayakers needing assistance came in. The inshore crew quickly began to make their way to the location, and at the same time our all-weather lifeboat crew were also paged and tasked to make their way in support. The inshore crew arrived on scene with the all-weather lifeboat also arriving shortly after. The inshore crew assisted the potential two casualties, and our all-weather lifeboat was able to retrieve the kayak which had taken on considerable water and transferred it to shore. Both crews then made their way back to the station to ready the boats once again should they be needed.

After a very busy Saturday, most of the volunteer crew were out enjoying a more restful Sunday. However, it wasn’t long, and the crew were paged again. Falmouth Coastguard requested our inshore lifeboat and crew to reports of an adult and child requiring assistance on a kayak located at the inner sound area. The crew launched and quickly made their way to the location, thankfully just as the crew arrived on scene, the lifeguards had managed to rescue the potential casualties so the crew could stand down and return to the station.

Rob Cocking, Coxswain at St Ives commented

‘We’ve had a very busy weekend, but I am delighted at how the volunteer crew responded and also partnered so well with our lifeguards. They worked incredibly well together to ensure a seamless response. It just shows that the constant training exercises that we do pay off both with our lifeboat crew and lifeguards, ensuring that no matter how many times we are needed we can and will always be ready to answer the call for help.’

Notes to editors

• Photograph 1 – Helicopter extracting the casualty at the Commando Ridge area – Credit Martin Ashmore
• Photograph 2 – Crew returning from shout on Saturday 13 July – Credit Niki Brooks
• Photograph 3 – Crew returning from shout on Sunday 14 July – Credit Niki Brooks

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