In the excitement of Saturday night's shout I completely forgot that I haven't yet mentioned Friday afternoons ILB shout. Our mechanic Dave doesn't often get to go on ILB shouts. However, every now and then there will be a situation which requires a more rapid than usual response. In these situations whoever is at hand jumps to it and launches the boat in double quick time. On Friday it fell to Dave and Tom to do this. The story went something like this:In a brisk force 4 Westerly wind just after midday a local fisherman came into the Lifeboat station saying that his colleague was alongside an upturned sailing dinghy 250m NW of the Lifeboat station, unfortunately he was in a small rowing boat and unable to help. The single handed sailor was cold and was unable to right his boat as the centre board had snapped. As luck would have it one of the ILB helmsmen, Tom, walked through the door and it was quickly decided to launch the Inshore Lifeboat to recover the casualty. The Lifeboat was launched and was soon alongside the upturned dinghy. The casualty was taken aboard and then taken to the Sailing Club so he could warm up. The crew then returned to his dinghy, righted it, lowered the sails and towed it back to the Sailing Club. With the situation resolved the fisherman was thanked for his help and the Lifeboat returned to station.
These sort of shouts are always very satisfying. There can be no doubt, by acting as quickly as they did, Dave and Tom prevented a simple situation from becoming far more complex and unpleasant. Well done lads!
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