Family brought ashore ON THE EVENING OF August bank holiday Monday, August 25, 1986, the week of Hurricane Charlie, the honorary secretary of Weymouth lifeboat received a call from the coastguard to say that a family was marooned on their powered 25ft pleasure craft by gale force winds in the Fleet, an expanse of water that lies between Chesil Beach and the land.

At 1950 the relief 52ft Arun class lifeboat Ralph and Bonella Farrant, on temporary duty at Weymouth, slipped her mooring and headed into Portland Harbour. Coxswain/Mechanic Derek Sargent was at the helm. The wind was blowing at force 8 from the south, the sea was rough and there were squally rain showers. Three cables from Ferrybridge at the entrance to the Fleet the lifeboat stopped and the inflatable Y boat was lowered into the water. With Assistant Mechanic Colin Pavey and Crew Member Robert Gray aboard, the Y boat headed up the Fleet, guided by the torches of Portland Coastguard's mobile unit who were stationed on the landward side of Chesil Beach.

By now the wind had increased to storm force 10 and before long the inflatable dinghy lost VHP contact with the lifeboat. She carried on however, negotiating sandbanks and rough water until her crew came across the pleasure craft. She was pitching and rolling and the family aboard were very distressed and seasick.

The Y boat drew alongside and took off the mother and a one-year-old baby and landed them into the care of the waiting coastguards. They then returned to pick up the father, his fouryear- old son and a dog. When they were landed the inflatable made her way back to the lifeboat. There her crew re-boarded and the Y boat was recovered before the coxswain set a course for Weymouth Harbour. By 2130 the lifeboat was refuelled and ready again for service.

Following this service letters signed by Rear Admiral W. J. Graham, director, were sent to Assistant Mechanic Colin Pavey and Crew Member Robert Gray in appreciation of the calm and efficient way they carried out the rescue..