Two inshore lifeboats save man cut off by tide A service by Redcar's Atlantic 21 and D class to a man cut off by the / x t i d e some five miles away from the station has earned Atlantic Crew member Tony Wild, D class helmsman Mark Greaves and D class Crew Member Derek Robinson a framed letter of appreciation from the RNLI's Chairman.

The Atlantic had been launched at 1506 on 30 May 1999 into a northeasterly Force 4 and seas which increased from 3ft at the launch site to 6ft to 9ft at the scene. The D followed two minutes later.

It took only ten minutes for the faster Atlantic to reach the man where she tried to anchor and veer down to the casualty. However the waves and undertow made it difficult to hold station, so Crew Member Tony Wild swam ashore with a line -with some difficulty. The stranded man was a non-swimmer and refused to swim to the lifeboat, despite the urgency of the situation.

By now the D class had arrived and it was decided she would try to beach. However as she tried to ride in on the back of a wave she struck a rock, slewed round and filled. Helmsman Mark Greaves recovered the situation and he and Crew Member Derek Robinson jumped out to hold the boat head to sea on the beach.

The casualty was taken aboard and a number of attempts made to get off the beach.

Derek Robinson was swept off his feet several times and once the boat was swept high and dry, despite the efforts of the three lifeboatmen.

Eventually the D class made it out to sea, slightly damaging her propeller in the process, to rendezvous with the Atlantic, which had in the meantime been dealing with her own problems.

While attempting to recover the line it had fouled the port propeller, stopping the engine, and while this was being freed the starboard engine struck a rock and also stalled. Fortunately it restarted immediately and the port engine was also freed.

The casualty was transferred to the Atlantic - shaken but uninjured -and was landed at Redcar at 1610, with the D class returning some five minutes later.

The Chairman's letter remarks that '..this was a well-executed service carried out in difficult conditions'..