Calshot RNLI attend jet ski in shallow water in 30 degree heat
The volunteer crew of Calshot RNLI were tasked to an incident involving jet ski near Netley during the heatwave on Thursday 25 June.
At 7.27pm crews were paged to a reports that a jet ski carrying two people had capsized near Netley Cliff Sailing Club. Even though it was early evening temperatures were still around the 30 degrees Celsius mark and there were large numbers of pleasure craft remaining on the water.
The Atlantic 85 B-Class lifeboat Max Walls was launched and it was quickly ascertained via communications with HM Coastguard that the casualties had been rescued to a vessel launched from the nearby sailing club that had seen the incident occur.
On arrival at the scene the crew made contact with the rescue vessel who confirmed that the two casualties were safe and well and had been taken to shore to be reunited with their parents. The jet ski had been towed towards shore, however due to it being low tide, was still a short distance out from the slipway and could not be moved by hand due to the volume of water that it had taken on.
Due to the water depth, the Atlantic 85 was unable to get within 100 metres of the stranded jet ski, so volunteer crew Paul Sleep waded through the muddy water to the jet ski.
The owner of the jet ski confirmed that both casualties were fine and neither required any medical attention, however the jet ski had lost a bung and the crank had filled with water. It was agreed that the best course of action would be to provide a replacement bung and pump the water out of the jet ski to allow the owner to recover it a waiting trailer on the nearby slipway.
Returning to the boat, replacement bungs were provided and crew waded the 100 metres back to the jet ski with a salvage pump, where the water was pumped out, allowing the owner to recover the jet ski to the slipway and the waiting trailer.
Calshot RNLI helm Tom Pedersen said: ‘What was a fun evening quickly turned into something more serious as the two casualties ended up in the water. Thankfully, they were wearing appropriate safety equipment and that, along with the vigilance of members of the nearby sailing club meant that we attended a relatively straightforward, albeit physically demanding shout. In other circumstances we could easily have been searching for people in the water’
Crew involved in the shout
Boat Crew: Tom Pedersen (Helm), Paul Sleep, Andy Bean
Shore Crew: Martin Bean (Head Launcher), Paul Courcha (Launch Vehicle Driver), Chantelle Moore, Darren Taylor, Kelley Leonard, Daniel Reeve
Deputy Launching Authority: Jane Banting
RNLI Media Contacts:
Calshot Lifeboat Station volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer Danni Strawford-Jones (07721) 694135 [email protected]
Calshot Lifeboat Station volunteer Deputy Lifeboat Press Officer Justyn Leonard (07540) 920678 [email protected]
Regional Media Officer, South East and London, Paul Dunt (07785) 296252 [email protected]
For enquiries outside normal business hours, contact the RNLI duty press officer on 01202 336789
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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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