Visiting tourists and locals on Milford on Sea beach saw lifeboat activity on a hot and busy Easter Monday afternoon. The Lymington RNLI were called out three times in quick succession. The first call at 1.13 p.m. turned out to be a false alarm. The Lymington RNLI lifeboat Victor ‘Danny’ Lovelock , having been recovered, refuelled and re-housed, and some of the crew had not yet left the boathouse, when pagers alerted then to the second call.
The second call at 1:55pm resulted from public awareness of a situation developing half a mile off Milford on Sea beach where with a North Easterly Force 5 blowing offshore and deceptive flat seas two young adults in a rubber inflatable dinghy without oars had no chance of returning to the shore without assistance. Quick thinking by a passing yacht (the Stren) prevented the dinghy from being swept further offshore and the Lymington RNLI lifeboat was tasked to recover the occupants to the safety of Milford on Sea beach, where the rescued appeared more concerned with having their photographs taken with the lifeboat as a backdrop and not losing their can of drink than the danger they had been in.
Refuelled and with the crew just departed to continue their Easter Monday family time, pagers sounded again at 4.08pm for another call to the same dinghy as previously rescued that had been swept out to sea again. This time though a local speed boat was first on the scene and able to assist thus the lifeboat call was cancelled just as the crew where passing the wave-screen and only a quarter of a mile from the station. How is it that some people never learn!
The inshore lifeboat at Lymington has covered an area of the western Solent for 40 years, and six awards have been presented to members of the lifeboat crew for gallantry.
Hi Penny commenting ( sold raffle tickets at Food week ) It was us on our little boat Stren who went to the rescue !!! If you want to hear more email me !
ReplyDelete