The activation of a locator device indicating that a person may have gone overboard off the coast of the Isle of Wight prompted the launch of both lifeboats from Bembridge last night (Monday).
Solent Coastguard requested the launch of Bembridge RNLI’s All Weather Lifeboat at 21:45 – with the inshore D-class following suit 5 minutes later – to search for a person or a vessel after a Man Overboard (MOB) device had been triggered in the area of the Nab Anchorage off Sandown.
It didn’t take long for the ‘Alfred Albert Williams’ to reach the search area and start an expanding box search. Conditions offshore were not suitable for the ‘Norman Harvey’ D-class, which remained inshore and conducted a shoreline search in the Whitecliff Bay/Black Rock area.
After around an hour of searching nothing had been located so the decision was taken to stand both lifeboats down.
At the same time, enquiries were taking place on shore with HM Coastguard successfully locating the registered owner of the device at home, indicating an equipment failure which transmitted a false alert and location.
The incident was stood down before 23:00.
All’s well that ends well.
Then I woke up and it was all a dream. A riveting tale.
These devices should be checked/maintained yearly I believe. If this hasn’t been done, then a fine should be forthcoming. After all, if it had been the other way around – a person overboard wearing this device and it didn’t activate, the consequences are much more serious!