Swamped A 15FT SAILING DINGHY with three people on board had set off for a day's fishing off Flamborough Head on the morning of Sunday September 21,1986. On their return the dinghy capsized just off Smethwick Sands. The crew succeeded in righting her but she capsized again and then again until the dinghy was finally swamped leaving the youngest occupant still aboard and the other two men in the water clinging to the side.

They had however managed to fire an orange smoke distress signal which was seen and reported to Bridlington Coastguard.

At 1306 Bridlington's 16ft D class inflatable lifeboat launched with Helmsman Andrew Brompton and Crew Members Clive Rank and Keith Turnbull on board. The sea was smooth at the launching point but once the lifeboat was abeam Hamilton Hill she lost the lee of the land and beyond the protection of Smethwick Sands she began to encounter large rolling seas.

A moderate to fresh westerly breeze force 4 to 5 was blowing with a moderate sea and six to eight foot swell as the lifeboat began her search. A coastguard Land Rover was on the nearby cliff top and directed the lifeboat to various objects which might have been the casualty but nothing was found. By 1340 the lifeboat was in a position some 2'/2 miles offshore which the coastguard reckoned to be where the smoke had originally been sighted. Still nothing was to be seen and so now the helmsman decided that wind and tide could have taken the casualty further out to sea. After heading half a mile further offshore Helmsman Brompton reported to the coastguard that he would begin a box search.

Minutes later the lifeboat crew saw what appeared to be a mast showing every now and then over the swells.

Soon they knew it was the casualty, swamped and barely on the surface.

The two people in the water were still clinging on and the youth was still on board.

Sails and lines were floating in thewater and the helmsman steered through them with care towards the dinghy. As one of the two men in the water was being hauled aboard and the youth taken from the dinghy itself, the other man was seen to let go his grip and would have drifted away had not Helmsman Brompton quickly rounded the dinghy to stop him.

The survivors were all found to be showing signs of hypothermia once aboard the lifeboat. The lifeboat crew covered them as well as possible in the circumstances. The helmsman headed for Barnston as it was the nearest shore and radioed for an ambulance to meet the survivors.

The lifeboat was forced to make the three mile run into the beach at reduced speed, meeting the head wind and breaking seas which continually swamped her. The self bailers were in constant use. Helmsman Brompton asked the coastguard Land Rover to direct them towards the beach as spray was obscuring his view. It took 25 minutes to reach Barnston where the three survivors were landed, one needing a stretcher into the ambulance.

The coastguard were concerned that the swamped sailing dinghy would be a hazard to other boats so the lifeboat then returned to where she had drifted, about 41/2 miles south east of Bridlington Piers. The first tow line parted but the second held and the dinghy was towed slowly through large seas until the lee of the land and Smethwick Sands was reached. Finally the dinghy was beached at 1551 and the lifeboat returned to station ten minutes later.

Following this service, a letter signed by Cdr Bruce Cairns, chief of operations, was sent to Helmsman Andrew Brompton in appreciation of his tenacity and of the efforts of his crew..