Hornsea’s independent lifeboat was tasked to go to the aid of a broken-down jetski with three people aboard drifting out to sea off Skirlington.
At about 2.30pm on Sunday, the Spirit of Hornsea lifeboat was swiftly launched by launchmaster Adam Collins with leading coxswain Karl Shannon, coxswain Rob Carthew and crewman James Kennedy aboard.
The jetski was soon located with the help of a distress flare set off by the jetskier. It was by then two miles out from Skirlington cliffs, rapidly drifting further out to sea in a strong offshore wind.
It had been towing an inflatable when the tow rope had become entangled in the vessel’s impeller, rendering it inoperable.
The lifeboat crew soon got the casualties aboard the lifeboat, none the worse for their ordeal, though the young girl on the jetski was very distressed by the incident. However, she soon recovered once on board. The lifeboat then recovered the casualties along with their jetski back to the North Cliff Boat Club where they were placed in the care of the coastguards.
Karl Shannon said: “There was a strong westerly wind blowing and the casualties could have soon been far out to sea and in very rough seas.
“People need to take care and professional advice before setting out when such a strong offshore wind is blowing as the wind flattens the sea up to a mile out but then it can be very rough indeed and the next stop could be Denmark. However, we were on the scene very quickly aided by the jetskier’s distress flare and no harm was done.”
The Spirit of Hornsea then returned to its base on the south promenade, was washed down, refuelled and prepared for the next call-out.
