Lifeboat called to inflatable blown offshore

At 13:03 today Friday 31st July the crew of Girvan Lifeboat were paged to launch the lifeboat in response to calls to the coastguard of a capsized inflatable being blown offshore to the North of the town.

Our volunteer crew immediately responded and Girvan's Shannon Class all-Weather Lifeboat was soon underway to the locations where the dingy was last sighted, further information obtained by Girvan Coastguard Rescue Team on shore ascertained the dingy was unmanned, had lost its tether and was blown to the North and no person was in danger, it had simply lost its mooring line and drifted away.

With this new information, a further quick search by Girvan Lifeboat located the inflatable and recovered it to prevent further callouts to any more possible sightings, Girvan Lifeboat then returned to station and was prepared for the next service call.

In this instance, the call is classed as a false alarm with good intent and thankfully no one was in immediate danger.

With the warmer weather today and the local beaches busier than normal, Please bear in mind inflatables are designed for the pool and not for open water like the sea, where the offshore wind and tide can take an inflatable with our without a person out to sea very quickly.

Please keep inflatables for the pool.

If you believe someone to be in trouble at sea or on the coast dial 999 and ask for the coastguard

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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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