Busy Weekend for Whitstable RNLI and a former Barmouth lifeboat also assists!

On Friday afternoon the stations B-Class lifeboat Lewisco was launched at 12.18pm following a report from the owner, on shore, of 14-foot angling boat off Faversham Creek that had gone adrift whilst being launched at the South side of Harty Ferry to the West of the entrance to Faversham and Oare Creeks in The Swale.

The lifeboat located the craft 50-yards off Castle Coote to the East of the creek and took the vessel under tow. However during this operation the lifeboat was re-tasked at 12.29pm to a 60-foot steel barge aground on the Horse Sand in the entrance to the Swale.

There was insufficient water for the lifeboat to reach the stranded craft and the occupants confirmed they would deploy an anchor and await the next tide. The lifeboat therefore continued with the tow of the dinghy and returned it to its owner at Harty Ferry, Faversham side.

On Sunday afternoon the lifeboat was launched at 2.02pm following a report of a capsized and partially sunken sailing dinghy a ½-mile North East of Shellness on the Isle of Sheppey.

On arrival at the scene the lifeboat crew found that one occupant had been taken ashore by a jet ski but a second was in the water next to the craft. After numerous attempts to ‘right’ the dinghy the occupant was brought onboard the lifeboat and the craft towed ashore semi-submerged to Shellness where the coastguard team were waiting.

Following this the lifeboat was requested by Dover Coastguard to search for any other possible casualties from a yacht race and commenced a sweep of the area from Shellness to Leysdown during which the lifeboat crew located a craft accompanying the race under tow from a safety boat and a number of other sailing dinghies who all confirmed they were fine and returning to Minster.

Later at 3.13pm the lifeboat assisted another yacht race safety boat Rib (rigid inflatable boat) that had broken down off Shellness and took it under tow for Harty Ferry.

However during the operation the lifeboat was requested to assist a catamaran with 3 persons onboard off Seasalter so the safety boat was left at anchor with its occupants remaining onboard whilst the lifeboat went to the aid of the craft at Seasalter.

This craft was subsequently taken under tow alongside the lifeboat and returned to the beach at Seasalter following which the lifeboat returned to the safety boat and its occupants which where then taken ashore at Harty Ferry, Faversham side.

At 4.50pm the lifeboat was released by the coastguard to return to station after around 3 hours of operations however the lifeboat crew were spared a further possible ‘tasking’ when a vintage RNLI lifeboat assisted child on a paddleboard off Whitstable.

Former Whitstable RNLI Helmsman Richard Judge runs Whitstable Vintage Lifeboat Trips using the 1948 built Liverpool Class lifeboat The Chieftain which was originally stationed at Barmouth in Wales.

Said Richard “During one of our bay trips around mid –afternoon, a young girl was being blown from the beach on a paddleboard with her father trying to swim out to assist but was being blown faster than he could swim”.

“Two canoeists went out to assist and had managed to stop the paddleboard until the father had caught up and which point we arrived. The father was exhausted so we took both onboard and checked them over before landing them on the beach to the rest of their family”.

Weather conditions during Sunday’s calls were Southerly force 6 winds, overcast skies but good visibility and a slight sea.

There have now been 43 calls on the volunteer crews at Whitstable RNLI.

Notes to editors

• Whitstable RNLI Lifeboat Station was established in 1963 by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and is one of 237 lifeboat stations around the shores of the UK and Ireland. The volunteer crews provide a maritime search and rescue service for the Kent coast. They cover the area between the Kingsferry Bridge on the Swale, in the west, around the south-eastern side of Sheppey and along the coast through Whitstable and Herne Bay to Reculver in the east and outwards into the Thames Estuary.

• The station is equipped with an Atlantic 85 lifeboat named Lewisco, purchased through a bequest of a Miss Lewis of London who passed away in 2006.

• She is what is known as a rigid inflatable inshore lifeboat, the boat’s rigid hull being topped by an inflatable sponson. She carries a crew of four people.

• RNLI media contacts

• Chris Davey, Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer, Whitstable Lifeboat Station.
  07741 012004/ [email protected]

• Julie Rainey - Regional Communications Lead : 07827 358256

• Hatti Mellor - Regional Communications Manager :07724 801305

For enquiries outside normal business hours, contact the RNLI duty press officer on 01202 336789

Key facts about the RNLI

The RNLI is the charity that 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 146,700 lives.

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