Two children and their father rescued in their inflatable.

Launch No: 401
Craft: Joan Bate. B-794
Saturday, 27 July 2019
Location: Blackpool Sands
The Atlantic 75 lifeboat approaching the inflatable off Blackpool Sands
Photo: John Fenton RNLI Dart Lifeboat Press officer
The Atlantic 75 lifeboat approaching the inflatable off Blackpool Sands

The RNLI Dart Atlantic 75 lifeboat was tasked to rescue two children and their father from an inflatable. Their mother watching from Blackpool Sands raised the alarm as she realised that they were having difficulty rowing back as the force 3 to 4 wind was blowing them offshore. The lifeboat went alongside and took them close to the beach where crewman Stuart Millard went in the water to help them ashore. Apart from being cold the family were uninjured. They were met on the beach by an RNLI Education volunteer and once they were warmed up he explained how the offshore wind can make the sea look flat and inviting. The family from Surrey were on the first day of their holiday and had not realised that RNLI lifeguards are on duty on Blackpool Sands, Thurlestone, Bigbury, Bantham and Hope Cove every day through the school holidays from 10am to 6pm.

Time

Request Received 7:25pm
Time at incident Deprecated: Implicit conversion from float 0.16666666666666666 to int loses precision in /home/dartlifeboatorg/public_html/launches-detail.php (line 272) 10 minutes
Time to recovery Deprecated: Implicit conversion from float 0.9166666666666666 to int loses precision in /home/dartlifeboatorg/public_html/launches-detail.php (line 272) 55 minutes
Back on Service 8:42pm

Conditions

Sea/River State Smooth
Wind Direction Northwest
Wind Strength 11-16 knots

Lifeboat Crew

Buster Hart (Helm)
Stuart Millard
Tom Shanley

Shore Crew

Pete Callis
Karl Guess

Deputy Launch Authority

Station address

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

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Devon TQ6 9BH

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