Cowes Lifeboat Has a Weekend of Call-Outs
Cowes RNLI lifeboat had a busy weekend, providing safety cover and being called to help yachts in difficulties.
On Saturday the lifeboat joined with other lifeboats to provide safety cover for the Island Sailing Club’s 90th Round the Island Race, attracting entries of over 1,000 yachts. Between 6 am and 7 pm three patrols were mounted by the station, each with different crews.
Cowes lifeboat’s services were, however, only required in the afternoon - after a headsail on a 40-foot yacht was jammed and the engine failed to start. The yacht was assisted to a mooring off Cowes, to await a tow-in from a Cowes Harbour launch; then the lifeboat was tasked to go the aid of yacht which had been damaged in a two-boat collision.
First to reach the yacht, off Calshot Spit, was the Calshot lifeboat, who requested that Cowes lifeboat put aboard two crew members, one of them a doctor, to give casualty care to a yachtsman who had a chest injury. The yacht, which had a damaged hull above the waterline, was towed by Calshot lifeboat to Hamble Point Marina for an emergency lift. The injured crew member did not require further treatment.
Then today (Sunday) Cowes lifeboat was tasked to go to a 32-foot yacht which had gone aground on the Bramble Bank at the entrance of Southampton Water. On board were two men – one of whom had a mild head injury - two women, and a 15-year-old girl.
So hard-aground was the yacht that the lifeboat failed in an attempt to tow it off. Although it had been planned to take three of the people, including the girl, back to Cowes, the yacht was eventually ‘bounced’ afloat by a wave. Then with everyone back on board, it was able to proceed to Hythe.
Yet another ‘shout’ for Cowes lifeboat came this evening when it was tasked to go to the aid of a small sailing boat apparently in trouble off Seaview. But as the lifeboat was on its way to the scene, Coastguards told them they were not needed after all.
Key facts about the RNLI
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 142,700 lives.
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