The volunteer crew of Bembridge RNLI was kept busy with 2 separate shouts prompting both lifeboats to be launched within minutes of each other this afternoon (Sunday).
Bembridge RNLI’s Inshore Lifeboat, the RNLB Norman Harvey, and the All-Weather Lifeboat, RNLB Alfred Albert Williams, were launched this afternoon and assisted an 18-foot angling boat that had broken down close to No Mans Land Fort with 3 people on board.
Both lifeboats were requested by HM Coastguard to launch at around 15:40 to the vessel and it did not take long for them to locate it.
Having carried out a dynamic risk assessment concluded that the safest option was to tow the stricken vessel to Langstone Harbour.
In the meantime, the All Weather Lifeboat was tasked to assist in a medevac involving a casualty with a hip injury in the Whitecliff Bay area, but immediately after launching at 16:05, the task was cancelled when the local Coastguard Rescue Team reported that they had successfully extracted the casualty overland.
Rather than re-housing, it was decided to get the larger All Weather Lifeboat to rendezvous with the much smaller Inshore Lifeboat and take over the tow.
Both lifeboats were recovered by 17:30.
– Always carry an auxiliary !
Rather than presuming upon the emergency services if one’s main engine breaks down, have a smallish outboard motor on the transom with a separate fuel tank. – It’s a get you home insurance policy, which really ought to be a legal requirement.