Catamaran aground THE DEPUTY LAUNCHING AUTHORITY of Morecambe lifeboat station was told by Helmsman Keith Willacy at 1515 on Saturday June 6, 1981, that a catamaran aground in the bay had been reported to him; her crew had not been accounted for. Morecambe's D class inflatable lifeboat manned by Helmsman Willacy and Crew Members Robert Haworth and Mark Baxter was launched five minutes later to investigate.

A fresh breeze, force 5, was blowing from the south west. Sea and swell together were 7ft high and the tide, just starting to ebb. was against the wind.

Waves were breaking up the launching slipway and so the inflatable lifeboat was launched over the side of the slip.

Approaching a moored catamaran.

Helmsman Willacy asked her skipper if he knew what had happened to the crew of the beached catamaran, and he was told that the one person on board had walked ashore before the tide came in.

The lifeboat had started to return to station when, as she crested a wave, her crew sighted an inflatable dinghy with two men on board on the crest of another wave 20 yards away; had the two boats been in the troughs they would not have seen each other. The crew of the inflatable dinghy, which had no engine and was being rowed, told the lifeboatmen that they were trying to rescue a yacht which had broken free of her moorings and was being driven towards the sea wall and groynes beneath Morecambe eolf course.Although with waves breaking over the D class lifeboat radio communication was difficult, the Coastguard were told of the situation regarding both the catamaran and the inflatable dinghy.

The lifeboatmen strongly advised the other two men against continuing and offered to take them aboard the lifeboat, but they were determined to keep going. Helmsman Willacy refused to put them aboard the yacht because he thought it an unacceptable risk for his own crew, for the two men and for the lifeboat herself.

By this time the yacht had driven over the first groyne and was hard against the second groyne with her bow against the sea wall. The men rowing the infatable dinghy still wanted to try to save her, so Helmsman Willacy took the lifeboat behind the first groyne to await the other boat.

As the inflatable dinghy cleared the groyne she was broadside on to the sea and she was immediately filled by a breaking wave, the two men nearly being thrown out. Helmsman Willacy brought the lifeboat alongside, took the men aboard and the inflatable in tow.

The seas between the groynes were very confused, with wind against the tide and the waves rebounding off the sea wall. The lifeboat was filled level with the transom as she took the men on board. Helmsman Willacy headed off shore but even then, with the self bailers working, breaking seas kept the floor of the inflatable lifeboat continually awash. One of the rescued men started to show signs of shock and exposure and after five minutes his condition gave such cause for concern that the inflatable dinghy was slipped and the lifeboat headed straight for the beach; as she approached she sent a radio message ahead for an ambulance to meet her. Riding a wave ashore the lifeboat was safely beached and the two men were taken to hospital. The lifeboat returned to station by road at 1700 and was rehoused at 1720.

For this service a framed letter of thanks signed by the Duke of Atholl, chairman of the Institution, was presented to Helmsman Keith Willacv..