Nearly home

We are now about a day or two from completing our circumnavigation of Great Britain. It may take a day or two longer as strong South Westerlies are forecast at the weekend. I hope you have enjoyed reading about our adventure.

I would like to say a big thank you to those that have already donated to our JustGiving page. During the journey we have been close to quite a few rescues and call outs for the RNLI lifeboats. Some we have seen first hand or been there when the casualty is brought back to safety. We have heard a lot more where the Coastguard have answered the launch notification and request the Lifeboat to go to channel 0 for tasking. Most of those we didn’t here the outcome of the shout, but no doubt the casualty will have been brought back to safety.

Our own local lifeboat at Sheerness is one of the busier stations in the country. If you haven’t already, please consider making a donation on our Justgiving page. This will directly help Sheerness Lifeboats appeal to celebrate the RNLI 200 year anniversary and help to buy extra kit to protect them whilst saving lives at sea.

Link to our JustGiving page

Below are the rescues that we witnessed or heard of the outcome of during our trip.

We were leaving the harbour to find the lifeboat in the process of escorting a twin masted wooden traditional fishing vessel in. We didn’t find out what had happened, but the casualty was safely back in harbour. The lifeboat now based in Newlyn harbour is the Penlee Lifeboat. Many of you will remember in 1981 the Penlee lifeboat launched into hurricane force winds to assist the stricken coaster Union Star. The crew of 8 plus 8 passengers and crew from Union Star were all lost.

1st June Isle of Man – Port Saint Mary

We were contacted by Belfast Coastguard as they could see us on AIS and had passed through the area that a boat that was in difficulty with power failure. We hadn’t seen anything and then heard the Port Saint Mary Lifeboat launch. After a search assisted by other vessels in the Irish Sea the Lifeboat located the casualty and towed it in. We later found out that the recently purchased and serviced LM27 motor sailer’s fuel filter had worked loose and the contents of the fuel tank ended up in the bilges. It had left Beaumaris, not far from Conwy where we had departed, but slightly after us, so we had covered the same track but ahead of them.

23rd June Island of Muck – Malaig Lifeboat

We were approaching Muck and heard a rescue in progress, but unaware of the location. As we got closer I realised the Lifeboat was very close to the anchorage we were heading for. By the time we rounded the headland, there was no sign of the Lifeboat but a fin keel yacht was high and dry on a rocky reef. The crew of the yacht had been taken off by the Lifeboat and taken to the small harbour on the other side of the Island. The Lifeboat waited there with them all day and returned as the tide was returning and managed to safely get the yacht off. The following day we walked across the Island and the yacht was anchored in the harbour not appearing to have suffered any significant damage.

25th June Between Muck and Rum – Malaig

We heard this one on the radio. A yacht had fould it prop on a pot marker. Again Malaig Lifeboat were called. Another yacht had attempted to assist but there was very little they could do. The fishing boat that owned the pots started recovering the pots from the other end of the Creel line to be able to cut the line. The Malaig Lifeboat took the yacht in tow to Malaig, another very long shout for the crew.

11th July Longhope – Longhope Lifeboat

We had moored up next to Longhope lifeboat in Ness Harbour. Memories were coming back about a Lifeboat disaster involving the Longhope Lifeboat. Back in 1969 the entire crew of 8 and the Longhope Lifeboat were lost on a stormy night attempting to rescue a Steamer.

Whilst we were there there was a shout as there were concerns raised over the well-being of the single handed crew of a yacht seen anchoring a few days before. No sign of life had been seen since. It turned out that the skipper was well and just relaxing after some strenuous sailing.

17th July Peterhead

Over previous days we had heard appeals for information about the whereabouts of an overdue yacht, sailed single handed from Sweden heading for Peterhead. The night we arrived the yacht had been located badly damaged and was towed into Peterhead by the lifeboat. The skipper was well and un injured.

27th July Bridlington ILB

Whilst in Bridlington I saw the ILB bringing a casualty into the harbour. It was strange as he was dressed in boating type clothes with a bouancy aid and a handheld vhf clipped to it. It turned out he was on an overloaded sit on kayak with fishing rods and an outboard. He had fallen off and couldn’t get back on. He had radioed for help and the ILB had picked him up. He later recovered hid kayak from the beach.