Fraserburgh RNLI called out to Kitesurfer

On Saturday 17 June, a concerned member of the public acted responsibly when she thought that a life may have been in danger at sea and informed HM Coastguard.

HM Coastguard paged Fraserburgh RNLI lifeboat crew and within minutes the duty coxswain, Dave Sutherland, with his son, Declan as duty mechanic, along with crew members Stephen Brown, Chay Cumming, Gubby Duncan, Mark Ritchie and Stuart Ross were aboard the Trent class lifeboat Willie and May Gall leaving the harbour and making their way across the bay towards St Combs.

Graeme Duthie, Scott Leye, Amy Millar, Doogs Millar, Jordan Morrice, and Shane Richardson also responded quickly and were able to provide valuable assistance shoreside.

Approaching St Combs Bay where the water was too shallow for the lifeboat, coxswain Sutherland deployed Chay Cumming and Mark Ritchie in the much lighter XP boat, a small, powered dinghy carried onboard Trent class lifeboats.

They arrived at the shore just as the kite surfer was making his way to dry land with the coastguard already on scene offering support.

After establishing that all was well and that there was no longer any risk to life, the XP boat returned to the lifeboat which then returned to Fraserburgh Harbour. The lifeboat was then washed down and refuelled, and the crew debriefed ready for the next service.

'It was a good response by everybody today with a good outcome' says coxswain Sutherland.

Almost 11 years ago, Dave was the duty coxswain when the Fraserburgh RNLI lifeboat was paged at almost exactly the same time on Saturday 30 June 2012 to another kitesurfer who had got into trouble.

On that occasion, the kitesurfer had become entangled in his lines and was being dragged out to sea 'towards Norway', and he would not have made it if his wife hadn’t phoned HM Coastguard who tasked the lifeboat.

Fraserburgh RNLI lifeboat 'went out, picked him up, and took him back.'

Months later it was reported that this had been the 140,000th life saved by the RNLI since it started in 1824. Another landmark by the RNLI and another landmark for Fraserburgh RNLI lifeboat.

Notes to editors

· Fraserburgh lifeboat station has been operating since 1858. To learn more about the lifeboat station go to: https://rnli.org/find-my-nearest/lifeboat-stations/fraserburgh-lifeboat-station

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