When two holidaymakers in a hired cruiser started sinking in sub-zero waters, there was no time to lose …

Breydon Water, an estuary in Norfolk where the Rivers Yare, Bure and Waveney converge, is usually calm. But 1 December 2010 was no ordinary day: an easterly force 8 gale was driving sleet and snow across it and, with wind over tide, the estuary was a churning mass of 2.5m waves.

‘Although it’s an inland waterway, Breydon Water is unlike any other part of the Broads. It’s 5km long and, in places, 1.5km wide: in those conditions it’s as bad as the sea can be,’ says Great Yarmouth and Gorleston Lifeboat Operations Manager Neal Duffield.

At 9.55am he received the call for help: the cruiser Fair Regent 1 and two crew were dangerously close to mudflats where the combination of tide and wind would smash the boat.

‘I was concerned for the couple’s safety. Turning from a sheltered position they had met the full force of the wind and tide. It would have been impossible for them to turn around.’

Although the couple were doing their best to keep to the navigation channel, their hire boat, known locally as a 'floating pig', didn’t have the power and manoeuvrability to conquer the wind and outgoing tide. Waves were crashing over the bows, water cascading into the cabin.

Very, very slick

Working as a paramedic in the air and on land has earned RNLI Helmsman Rod Wells the nickname ‘Land, sea and air’. Even though he’d just got into bed after a night shift, the severe weather meant he was half expecting his pager to go off.

While Rod was heading towards his car, Mechanic Paddy Lee and Crew Members Jason Smith and Alan Churchman were launching the relief inshore lifeboat Jack and Joyce Burcombe.

‘The process is very, very slick: they had started the boat and switched on the lights while I was fastening my drysuit. Paddy was on to the Coastguard finding the location of the Fair Regent 1. Crew Members Matt Chilvers, Jason Edmonds and I just got on and went!’ From the Coastguard’s call to launch took just 3 minutes.

Rod recalls: ‘If I’d tried to stay close to shore we would have been bashed to bits.’ So, keeping the sea behind him, Rod headed into the icy spray and wind. Huddled behind Rod, Matt remembers: ‘With wind against tide it was very rough: the worst conditions I have seen on that water – and certainly the coldest.’

Airborne cruiser

As they turned the corner into Breydon Water the crew saw just the hull of the boat. ‘We were all very shocked to see the cruiser clearing half a metre off each wave,’ remembers Matt. ‘Every time the chap tried to turn the boat head into sea he was swamped.’

The receding tide meant the safe, deeper water channel was rapidly diminishing and the wind was blowing the cruiser ever closer to the mudflats: if she ran aground she would capsize.

Rod used the lifeboat to nudge the cruiser safely into the channel. Although the lifeboat is around 4m shorter and 2 tonnes lighter, its twin 75hp engines enabled it to shunt the heavier vessel.

The next step was to get a lifeboat crew member onboard to assess the situation. With the movement of the boats and a 2.5m swell it was going to be challenging to pull safely alongside and for someone to climb half a metre onto the deck. Even with 20 years’ service behind him, the wind, the tide and the banking of the cruiser made Rod’s task virtually impossible. Twice he had to pull out but on the third attempt he succeeded.

The big freeze

Less than 30 minutes earlier Jason Edmonds had been on leave, sitting at home – warm and toasty. Now he found himself, with the help of Matt Chilvers, clambering from one bucking deck to another, the wind lashing his visor and sub-zero waters below him.

As soon as Jason placed one foot on the cruiser’s deck, he slipped: the spray had frozen, turning the deck into a skating rink. He says: ‘It’s salt water – it’s not supposed to freeze! The only thing to do was to grip the handrail and try desperately to stay on my feet.’ Water was gushing into the cabin through a door vent and the couple were doing their best with a mop and bucket. ‘I shuffled along to the bow and tried to make light of the situation,’ recalls Jason.

The cruiser was being blown everywhere so the crew decided to use the lifeboat’s sea anchor to act as a drogue to gain some control. ‘A drogue creates a dragging effect that helps keep a vessel straight and stop it swinging from side to side.’ says Neal Duffield. ‘It’s basically like a canvas bag.’

Jason slid and shuffled aft and threw the drogue. The lifeboat crew established a tow. Within 15 minutes, the RNLI volunteers had handed the relieved holidaymakers over to the coastguard rescue officers at Great Yarmouth Yacht Station.

The crew arrived back at the lifeboat station frozen. ‘The cold was the main factor – the spray was freezing as it hit the sponsons. But the minute you get back you wash down the boat, clean up ready for the next launch and you soon warm up again,’ insists Jason.