Cowes lifeboat station rounded off its activities on the day of the Round the Island Race on Saturday with yet another shout completely unconnected with the event.
Following on from assisting a broken down motor cruiser and then administering First Aid to a girl swimmer, the station returned to call-out mode once again late in the evening. This time the station was asked by Solent Coastguard to investigate a drifting sailing dinghy west of the mouth of Beaulieu River, which just might have someone on board.
When the lifeboat tracked down the dinghy the crew found that it was in fact empty; although floating free it had a buoy attached leading to the conclusion that it appeared to have broken from its sea or river bed mooring somewhere. The lifeboat towed the craft to a pontoon in the river.
The lifeboat, which had launched at 22:14, returned to station at 23:20.
