Hornsea’s independent lifeboat has been tasked to attend to a series of incidents during the past week.
On Thursday, August 30, it went to the assistance of a jet-ski with three people on board which had broken down about a mile off Longbeach Leisure Park. Having established that the casualties were uninjured, two were taken aboard the Spirit of Hornsea and the jet- ski was towed safely back to the beach.
Then, on Sunday, September 3, the lifeboat was at sea on a crew training exercise when it was tasked by the coastguard to go to the aid of a broken-down boat four miles out from Hornsea.
The crew were soon on scene and worked alongside the Bridlington RNLI lifeboat to get the vessel under tow back to Bridlington. On the way back to base the Hornsea crew were lucky to get a first-hand view of a school of dolphins that escorted them for some of the way home.
Before returning to base, though, the Spirit of Hornsea was again tasked to investigate a report of some paddle boarders in difficulty half a mile or so off Skipsea.
On this occasion, leading coxswain Karl Shannon was in the area on his own boat and was able to establish that the paddle boarders were in no difficulty. Once again the Hornsea Inshore Rescue crew of coxswain Rob Carthew, with Tom Mitchell, Adam Collins and Liam Watson, were able to return to their training programme off Hornsea’s south beach.
However, they were not long into their training session when they spotted a broken-down vessel some 500 metres from Hornsea Boat Launch. The crew went to the vessel’s assistance and safely returned it and its crew to Hornsea beach where it was recovered by Hornsea Boat Launch staff.
The lifeboat was then itself recovered back to its station by launch master Karl Handley where it was washed down, refuelled and made ready for its next call out.
Fortunately the next day, Monday, saw no further callouts and 30 members of the Driffield Social Club were treated to a Fish and Ships lunch which included talks, videos and demonstrations all accompanied by fish and chips delivered from Whiteheads award-winning fish and chip shop.
Hornsea Inshore Rescue is a totally independent local rescue organisation supported solely by donations and grants, and it is not part of the RNLI. It also raises funds by running courses on water safety, RYA courses for certificates in offshore powerboating, jet-ski handling, VHF radio certification and the RYA one-day first-aid course. They also offer corporate 999 days and school visits.
Visitors to Hornsea Inshore Rescue and volunteers are always welcome whether they would like to serve as crew (comprehensive training is given), fundraisers or general helpers. Anyone interested is welcome to phone Sue on 07796 257989 or Ian on 01964 534302.
