The unusually high number of call outs involving Cowes RNLI over an 11-day period has brought praise for the station’s volunteer members from their Lifeboat Operations Manager, Mark Southwell.
From Thursday 8th June to Sunday 18th June there were no fewer than 9 shouts for Cowes lifeboat station, with each one attracting sufficient lifeboat crew, shore-crew and a launch authority member to fully respond to the perceived emergency.
Mark Southwell has said:
“The consistency throughout was quite exemplary, considering our volunteers also have a life outside of the RNLI including family and work commitments.
“Although, fortunately, not one of the call-outs involved an injury or a fatality, there were several where the outcome could have been very different without our attendance.”
The shouts included a yacht aground on the Bramble Bank; several men in difficulty in the River Medina; engine failure involving yachts, a RIB, and a fishing boat; a capsized windsurfer; a sinking motorboat in Wootton Creek and a drifting unattended RIB. And several of the call-outs were late at night or in the early hours of the morning.
