Barrow lifeboat called to upturned kayak

The tasking request was received from HM Coastguard in Holyhead at 11.51am. The informant who called HM Coastguard said that they had earlier seen a yellow kayak in the area with two people on board but that a short while later they saw an upturned yellow kayak in the water with no sign of anyone near to it. They made the correct decision to call HM Coastguard and provide all the information they had.

The crew was paged and the inshore lifeboat, Raymond and Dorothy Billingham, was launched at 12.15pm with Adam Cleasby at the helm along with crew Nic Johnson and Tom Ruecroft.

The lifeboat soon located the upturned kayak at the south of Piel Island and as it was a single person craft they were confident that it was not the same as the two-person kayak that had been seen earlier. In order to avoid it becoming a hazard to other vessels it was decided to tow the kayak the short distance back to Roa Island. The owner of the kayak was located and he was reunited with his craft.

With the call-out concluded, the lifeboat was stood down at 12.51pm and returned to the Boathouse where it was re-housed by the waiting shore crew and made ready for the next launch.

The weather at the time of the incident was excellent and the wind was south-easterly, Force 1-2. The incident occurred on the high tide which was due at 11.59am with a predicted height of 8.9m.

RNLI Media Contacts

For further information, please contact:

Chris Clouter, Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer for RNLI Barrow, [email protected]

Claire Fitzpatrick-Smith, RNLI Regional Communications Manager for Wales, West of England and Isle of Man, 07977 728 315, [email protected]

Danielle Rush, RNLI Regional Communications Lead for Wales, West of England and Isle of Man, 07786 668829, [email protected]

RNLI Press Office, 01202 336789, [email protected]

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