Just hours after attending a service in the village church to commemorate the Mary Stanford crew lost in 1928, today’s volunteers set out from the station into the darkness.
On the evening of Sunday 18 November the inshore lifeboat Hello Herbie II launched at 6:30pm, responding to HM Coastguard reports of a vulnerable adult possibly in the sea off Camber Sands. Volunteer Helm Trevor Bryant, who retires from that position after 33 years’ service later this week, initiated a search in which the lifeboat was joined by Coastguard helicopter Rescue 163 from Lydd and members of the Rye Bay Coastguard team. Visibility was good and the weather calm but the low sea temperature made a swift recovery essential.
After some thirty minutes of searching it was reported that the potential casualty had been found in the Central Car Park at Camber, where a paramedic attended him. The lifeboat returned to station at 7:10pm.
“This first ‘shout’ in the darker, colder conditions of winter emphasised the need for thorough training and the correct equipment if we are to save lives at sea,” observed Tony Edwards, Lifeboat Operations Manager at Rye Harbour. “We were glad to learn in this case that the individual concerned was found before he had entered the water.”