Two sailors clung to a ledge beneath Welsh cliffs, lashed by waves with the tide rising around them

With the sea and wind driving directly onto the rocky shoreline, this would be an extremely hazardous rescue. The wind was blowing force 6–7 and gusting over 40 knots and the lifeboat crews would have to deal with angry seas, submerged rocks and overfalls. Cardigan has two inshore lifeboats: the D class Elsie Ida Meade and the Atlantic 75 Tanni Grey. Both crews were dispatched when the call came.

At 2.30pm on Saturday 30 April 2011, a 4m catamaran with four sailors aboard had capsized and damaged its rig. Two of the crew had managed to climb back onboard and steer the boat ashore but had been unable to pick up their friends.

The remaining crew, a man and a woman in their mid-20s, had swum towards the shore between Aberporth and Tresaith and managed to pull themselves up onto a rock. ‘It was just a little ledge, I don’t know how they managed to scramble onto it’, says Gemma Griffiths, Helm of Elsie Ida Meade. The Coastguard Cliff Rescue Team were the first to arrive on the scene but couldn’t reach the casualties.

Len Walters, Helm of Tanni Grey, who was next to arrive says: ‘It was quite a precarious position and it wouldn’t have been long before they were washed off. ‘We couldn’t get the anchor to hold so the only option we had was to try to go in with the nose to the cliffs.’ With heavy waves driving over the stern, ‘the boat was awash continually'.

All the time the Helmsman had to be aware of large waves approaching from behind, the cliffs ahead and submerged rocks to the side of the boat, which restricted the area that he had to manoeuvre. Although many seasoned seamen would find this an almost impossible position, Len says that his day job helps: ‘I’m a full-time fisherman, so I’m used to being close to rocks and I’m quite comfortable in those environments.’ An in-depth knowledge of the area and its rocks and currents had been a great help.

With the sea driving the boat onto the rocks it took considerable skill to keep it steady. Len quickly formulated a plan and instructed his crew to take their positions, with Owen Butler at the stern on the look out for dangerous waves and Steven Ladd at the front to try to help the sailors jump on.

The first rescue attempt had to be aborted and Len had to reverse out and turn the Atlantic 75 head on to the oncoming seas. This was the safest thing to do to avoid the boat being capsized, engulfed or thrown against the rocks.

Len then took the opportunity to nip back in to the ledge so the woman could be grabbed and helped onto the lifeboat. Another attempt had to be aborted due to heavy seas but finally, on the fourth attempt, the second sailor was able to jump down from the ledge and onto Tanni Grey.

This proved to be the most dangerous moment of the rescue. The crew and the rescued sailors came close to being dashed against the rocks when Tanni Grey's two 75hp engines met their match in the power of the waves and were unable to reverse away. Len explains: ‘As the man jumped over the bow we had a really rough spell again. Both engines were flat out in reverse but we were still going down the wave and hit the rock. It was the force of the boat hitting the rock that actually pushed us back over the top of the wave.’

This enabled the Helmsman to finally manoeuvre the boat away from the rocks and out into the safety of open water. As it would be a long, rough journey back to Cardigan he decided to land the sailors on the nearby beach since they were well and suffering no injuries.

They were transferred to the care of Gemma Griffiths and her crew, Simon Mansfield and her sister Sarah Griffiths, on the D class to be taken ashore as their boat was better suited to land on the beach. Gemma says: ‘We had to keep an eye on the waves and turn the boat as quickly as possible once on the beach, to avoid capsizing but it all went smoothly.’

Once ashore the sailors were handed into the care of the Coastguard team. Although the man was a skilled sailor, it was his companion’s first experience and she made it very clear that she would not be going out again!

The crews of both boats have been commended by RNLI for their work. Len says: ‘It was an excellent job all round, everyone played their part. Steve was up front helping the people jump on and Owen was at the stern keeping us posted about the waves. Gemma did a really good job in those conditions and it proved a value having two different boats.’

Lifeboats are in the blood for the Griffiths family with four members on the current crew list. Gemma and Sarah’s brother Alex also helps out when home from the Navy and their father Clifford is Cardigan’s Lifeboat Operations Manager. Found out more about Cardigan's lifeboat history on pages 24–27.