Summer has been exceptionally busy for Swanage Lifeboat Station with 33 rescues from July to September.
One of our most significant rescues of the year came on 20 September at 5:01pm when Swanage RNLI volunteers launched into gale force winds and rough seas to assist three people on a yacht edging closer to the cliffs. The yacht’s engine was not working, and the crew was unable to control the 31-foot ketch in the rolling waves.
The lifeboat made best speed through the breaking swell, and once on scene, the Coxswain decided the safest course of action was to leave the yacht’s crew onboard their vessel and set up a tow because a crew transfer was not safe in the conditions.
With skillful boat handling in close proximity to the casualty vessel and the cliffs, and effective teamwork by the volunteer lifeboat crew, a tow was eventually established.
Volunteer lifeboat Coxswain on the day Gavin Steeden said, ‘Gale force winds and large confused waves meant that the lifeboat crew’s skills were challenged to
the limits.’
The RNLI lifeboat towed the yacht out of the rough seas and into the comparative calm of Studland Bay. At this point, the yacht’s crew were taken onboard the lifeboat, and two RNLI volunteer crew members were transferred to the yacht to relieve the casualties of their duties and allow them to recover from the incident aboard the lifeboat.
Not long after 8:00 pm the yacht was secured to a pontoon in Poole and handed back to its crew. The lifeboat was released from service and returned to Swanage soon after.
Top photo credit: Andy Lyons
