The life-saving Ryde Rescue 1 lifeboat, damaged following a vandalism attack in July, is set to return to Ryde Inshore Rescue later today (Wednesday) following repairs to its tubes.
As previously reported by Island Echo, both Ryde Rescue 1 and the smaller Ryde Rescue 2 lifeboats were damaged by unknown vandals just before the start of the Summer holidays, sparking fears lives could have been at risk.
Large donations were received as the local community rallied together to fundraise enough money to allow the repairs to get underway.
Following repair work at Ribcraft in Weymouth, RR1 is nearly ready to return to active service – night and day for 365 days a year – and will be put through its paces when it is brought back to the Solent all the way from Weymouth. It is expected the journey will take up to 3 hours, giving the craft a thorough test before it is back on base at Appley and ready to respond to a tasking by Solent Coastguard.
Ryde Rescue 2 is being transported to the mainland today for repair work and is expected to return to Ryde Inshore Rescue in around 3 weeks time.
Unfortunately, no persons have been arrested for the despicable attack to date.
Ryde Inshore Rescue are 1 of the 60 independent lifeboat stations in the United Kingdom, with a purpose to prevent the loss of life at sea and promote sea safety by education and training. The service is manned and run entirely by volunteers, who are on call 24/7, 365 days a year and are ready to launch at the request of Solent Coastguard, covering an area of roughly 3 mile radius around Ryde.
