The volunteer crew of the Bridlington RNLI handled two incidents within 90 minutes to the south of Bridlington on Sunday.
The first call for service came at 12.10pm after the HM Coastguard reported a person in distress and in the water, close to Wilsthorpe. Thankfully the person was soon back on land and the volunteer crew were stood down at 12:15pm, without the need to launch.
However, just over an hour later, the volunteer crew of the Bridlington RNLI crew were requested to launch their relief inshore D class lifeboat (ILB) Kathleen Dorothy Barr III at 1.31pm at the request of HM Coastguard, after being alerted to dinghy blown offshore with one person on board at Barmston. The volunteer crew of three launched at 1.47pm and were with the casualty, who was located 1.6 miles off the coast and was being blown out to sea.
The volunteer crew of the Bridlington RNLI were on scene in good time, reaching the casualty by 2.03pm. It was established that the casualty had originally attempted to swim back to shore before abandoning the attempt and re-joined the drifting dinghy. The weather conditions at the time were good with a fresh south-westerly breeze blowing off the land in a calm sea.
The volunteer crew took the casualty onto the ILB and returned both casualty and dinghy back to the beach at Barmston, handing the casualty over to the HM Coastguards who were also on scene when the person willingly surrendered the dinghy to be disposed of.
The volunteer crew were then stood down by the HM Coastguard at 2.22pm and returned to the beach in Bridlington by 2.26pm, where the boat was recovered by the volunteer shore crew of the Bridlington RNLI, washed down, refuelled and was back on service by 3.06pm
Ash Traves, helm on the Bridlington ILB stated, “As we now head into the summer months more people are heading to the coast to enjoy the warmer weather and have fun in the sea. But the RNLI would like to once again, remind everyone coming to the seaside that while inflatables can be great fun, they are not designed for the beach as they can easily get swept out to sea as was the case today.
Our advice is that people must take note of the weather and tidal conditions before venturing on or into the sea and be prepared for changes in the weather which can occur quite quickly. If people must use inflatable beach toys the RNLI advice is that they should be held with a line by someone on shore and children should never be left unsupervised.
When you go to the beach, always carry a means of calling for help. If you are going in the water, you can carry your mobile phone in a waterproof pouch. That way, if you find yourself or spot someone else in an emergency situation, you can get help. In a coastal emergency, call 999 and ask for the coastguard.”
