Three saved from swamped dinghy Members of the Portsmouth lifeboat crew have also received framed letters of thanks from the Chairman of the RNL1 for their sen-ices during an earlier rescue. The helmsman for this service was Steve Alexander with crew member James Beach and two crew members from the service above, Adrian West and Paul Venton.

On 4 April 1988 the lifeboat was waiting to exercise with a helicopter when she received an urgent request to investigate a Mayday call from the yacht Patina in Langstone Harbour.

The weather was overcast with a cold, fresh ENE wind gusting Force 6/7.

The lifeboat reached the casua/tv at 1141 to find three people in the water clinging to the yacht.

Aboard were the owner and his crew, who had found an upturned dinghy with three people clinging to it.

very weak and too heavy to hoist aboard.

Two were holding on at the stern, while another was by the anchor cable at the bow.

The man at the bow was in the most need of assistance, but a line was entwined around the man and the anchor warp and this had to be cut before he could be hoisted aboard. Because of his water-logged clothing, it look all three crew to hoist him into the lifeboat.

The casualty was unconscious, apparently not breathing and no pulse was detectable. Cardiac massage and resuscitation were started in an attempt to save the man while Helmsman Alexander manoeuvred the lifeboat beneath the helicopter, which had arrived and taken up station some 30 yards astern of the yacht, with the winrhman already lowered. The casualty was winched into the helicopter and flown to hospital while the air crew worked to revive the man, who was alive and breathing on arrival.

Helmsman Alexander returned to Patina's stern and the two other survivors were lifted aboard the lifeboat, again with considerable difficulty due to the weight of their clothing.

Thev were suffering from hypothermia after being in the water for more than an hour before being seen by Patina and were taken to Eastney Point where an ambulance was waiting.

The two men aboard Patina. Mr Peter Clack and Mr John Hope have received letters from the chief of operations thanking them on behalf of the RNLI..