Eastbourne RNLI volunteers called to four incidents in one day

The volunteers at Eastbourne had a busy start to August with four different taskings on the first day of the month. Picture: Eastbourne RNLI

At 9.13am they were tasked to launch the station’s inshore lifeboat to assist the local coastguard with a search, but between launching and arriving at the search area they were stood down as the person had been located safe and well.

The crew on the inshore lifeboat were then re-tasked before they could return to station after reports of yacht that may have been in difficulty near Beachy Head. They made their way to the location and checked with vessels in the area but found nobody needing assistance and returned to station at 10.35am.

At 1.43pm the pagers sounded again after a 17 metre yacht issued a Mayday call having suffered engine failure and taking on water just outside the entrance to Sovereign Harbour.

This time they launched the all weather lifeboat Diamond Jubilee. Due to the conditions it was deemed unsafe to put crew on board with the salvage pump when they arrived on scene.

Instead they established a tow and brought the stricken vessel into the safety of the harbour before transferring crew and the salvage pump to the vessel and towing the vessel to the harbour hoist bay where it could be lifted from the water and repairs carried out.

The crew had barely got back into the station before the pagers went off for a third time after a 12.5m motorboat 4.5 miles east of Sovereign Harbour issued a pan-pan call due to engine failure.

With no other vessels in the area and increasingly poor sea conditions the all weather lifeboat was launched again. Once on scene they established a tow and returned once more to Sovereign Harbour.

Their day was not complete however as after a short break they then went afloat again for a planned training exercise under the eyes of RNLI trainers and assessors.

If you’re visiting the coast, take care, especially along exposed cliffs, seafronts and piers.

If you see someone in danger, call 999 or 112 and ask for the Coastguard.