Cowes RNLI Lifeboat was launched at lunchtime today (Saturday) to go to the aid of a small yacht in Wootton Creek.
The 20ft yacht – with 2 men, a woman and a dog aboard – had gone aground on a sandbank in a falling tide. Eventually, the lifeboat managed to tow the yacht into clear water.
With 2 of the yacht’s crew having transferred to the lifeboat, the yacht then made its own way under power up the creek to The Sloop, with a lifeboat crew member aboard.
The lifeboat, which launched just before 14:00, had been away from the station for just over an hour.
The call-out involved 2 female firsts for the station; it was the first time that Anne Simkin took charge of an emergency call-out after recently qualifying as a Deputy Launch Authority, and it was also the first time that Penny Jeffcoate had gone out on a shout after being accepted as a boat crew trainee.
