August 2019 was RNLI Torbay's busiest month in three years

RNLI Torbay volunteer crew attended incidents ranging from recovering a woman who had broken her wrist in a fall in Crystal Cove, near Goodrington to towing a 15 metre fishing vessel with engine failure from 11 miles SSE of Berry Head into Brixham Harbour.

Two thirds of RNLI Torbay call-outs last month took place at the beaches and coves within Torbay. The remaining third of shouts were to vessels in distress in off shore waters.

RNLI Torbay's August 2019 shout count of 18 compares to 12 in the same month last year and 13 in 2017. In total there have been 82 call-outs for our Brixham-based volunteers so far in 2019 compared to 64 by the same time in 2018.

The average time between pages going off and our volunteer crew assembling and then launching RNLI Torbay's lifeboats in August was 8 minutes. There were 98 active crew places on shouts this month. On top of the crew that actually go out on operations, many more volunteers assemble at the lifeboat station when their pagers go off.

Commenting on RNLI Torbay's busy August, Ashley McInally, RNLI Torbay's mechanic said: August has been very busy. We had three days when both our All Weather and Inshore lifeboats were called out (16, 23 and 24 August). On 25 August our All Weather Lifeboat went to two separate incidents including attending to an Italian vessel 10 miles NE of Berry Head that was taking part in the Cowes to Torquay Power Boat race and had engine problems (see photo).

For more details of all RNLI Torbay's August shouts please visit http://www.torbaylifeboat.co.uk/annuallaunches.htm

Key facts about the RNLI

The RNLI is the charity that 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 146,700 lives.

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