Broken down motor boat towed to safety
Lytham St Annes RNLI lifeboat volunteers assist boat to Squires Gate
The Coastguard Operations Centre at Holyhead requested Lytham St Annes inshore lifeboat launch to the aid of a five metre (16½ feet) boat with two people on board at lunch time on Saturday 10 April 2021. The vessel was off the mouth of the river and had suffered machinery failure. Before the charity’s inshore lifeboat (ILB) MOAM was in the water the two men managed to restart the casualty’s outboard motor and headed home to Squires Gate.
The ILB with Helmsman Vinny Pedley with crew Will Bridge and Felix Lillyman stood by on the shore at Church Scar, opposite Fairlawn Road, ready for an immediate launch in case the machinery problems resurfaced on the angling boat. This in fact happened shortly after 1pm with the motor boat breaking down again. The ILB then immediately launched to assist.
The inshore lifeboat found the casualty 30 minutes later to seaward of the Lytham St Annes Coastguard Station on North Drive Car Park and took her in tow for Squires Gate. Meanwhile the lifeboat Shore Crew of Laurence Foster, Elizabeth Gee and Mark Bower arrived at Squires Gate in the Station’s Land Rover towing the lifeboat's carriage.
Both lifeboats were recovered on shore and the casualty taken up the beach by Blackpool Light Craft Club tractor while the ILB was recovered onto her carriage and brought back to her Lytham Boat House by road. Then started the cleaning, checking and refuelling of the MOAM and also the Land Rover befoe the volunteer crew could return to home or work at 2.55pm.
Helmsman Vinny Pedley later said: 'It was good to see the Shore Crew waiting to recover us at Squires Gate. The casualty was in no imminent danger but was having great difficulty getting back to shore.'
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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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