On Friday October 18 four friends, Jo, Joanna, Jackie and Sarah were walking on Camber Beach as part of their weekend away when suddenly Sarah noticed a red flare in the sky above a yacht at the mouth of the River Rother. The yacht seemed to be travelling in a 360-degree circle and they realised that the skipper was in trouble. Knowing that the best way of getting help was to dial 999 and request the help of the Coastguard they did just that.
HM Coastguard then requested the lifeboat at RNLI Rye Harbour be launched to assist the casualty. The pagers went off at 5.13pm and a crew mustered at the station within minutes. However, as the tide was going out and there was not enough water to launch into the river the lifeboat had to be towed down to the beach on its carriage. The crew went first in the RNLI minibus and assessed the situation.
The skipper of the yacht decided to leave his vessel and waded to shore where there were a group of beach walkers waiting. He did not have a phone so one was provided for him to talk to Stuart Clark, RNLI helm, who was on the opposite shore. It was established that the yacht had tried to enter the river but it had run aground. This information was then passed on to the Coastguard which was monitoring the shout. There was not enough water for the lifeboat crew to launch so having established that the casualty was in good health the RNLI volunteers went back to the station to wait for enough water to launch later in the day.
The crew stood down and responded to the next tasking at 9.19pm. The yacht was safely taken to its mooring in Rye and the lifeboat returned to the station to be prepared for future shouts. It was a long day for the volunteer crew but they went home knowing that they had once again made a difference.
Stuart Clark commented upon his return to the station: “It was a great turnout again, showing that our commitment to training is paying off. Everyone pulled together and it was a good outcome in what turned out to be fairly tricky conditions. The management, crew, both boat and shore, the coastguards, and even members of the public all collaborated for a common cause to save lives at sea and were happy to spend the entirety of their Friday evening doing so. I am proud of everyone and all they are doing as one crew!”
Image Credits: Kt bruce , Tim Brown , Tammy King .