Search for swimmer when clothes found

Launch No: 312
Craft: Spirit of the Dart. D-702
Tuesday, 5 September 2017
Location: Blackpool Sands. Start Bay.

Whilst on exercise in the Range Dart inshore lifeboat were alerted to an incident at Blackpool Sands. A walker had found a pile of clothes unattended on the shoreline.

The Dartmouth Coastguard SAR team had been asked to search between Blackpool Sands and Strete Gate. On being informed of their position the Falmouth Coastguard tasked the lifeboat to assist in the search.

The lifeboat crew found a lone snorkeler 30m from the shore. He had started with a body board attached to himself and a dan buoy but unfortunately the line became caught and he had to cut the board free. When he surfaced he was unable to locate the board. He appeared to be fit and well and he was escorted to the shore. The lifeboat crew searched unsuccessfully for the board.

He was given some advice about the advisability of swimming with a buddy or at least having an observer on the shore, especially in times of reduced visibility.

Time

Request Received 7:38pm
Time at incident Deprecated: Implicit conversion from float 0.4166666666666667 to int loses precision in /home/dartlifeboatorg/public_html/launches-detail.php (line 272) 25 minutes
Time to recovery Deprecated: Implicit conversion from float 0.9833333333333333 to int loses precision in /home/dartlifeboatorg/public_html/launches-detail.php (line 272) 59 minutes
Back on Service 8:55pm

Conditions

Sea/River State Calm inshore
Wind Direction Northwest
Wind Strength 7-16 knots

Lifeboat Crew

Chris Tracey (Helm)
Stuart Millard
Dean Nettleton

Shore Crew

Pete Callis (Tractor Driver)
Caleb Brown
Tom Shanley

Deputy Launch Authority

Station address

RNLI Dart Lifeboat Station
Coronation Park
North Embankment
Dartmouth
Devon TQ6 9RR

Contacting the Station

The station is unmanned. Find contact details for each member of the RNLI Dart team here.

Send us a message

Visitor Centre address

RNLI Visitor Centre
9 South Embankment (Ground Floor)
Dartmouth
Devon TQ6 9BH

Visitor Centre phone number

01803 832423

Visitor Centre opening hours

The shop is now open from 11am to 3pm. on Monday, Thursday and Saturday and from 11am to 1pm on Tuesday and Wednesdays. After closing on Saturday 4 December the VC will be closed until the start of half term week in Feb 2022.

Follow Us