18 October: The Mumbles Just as preparations for the Mumbles Oyster Festival were taking place, a visitor spotted a windsurfer in difficulty half a mile out to sea. The volunteers launched their inshore lifeboat in gale force winds and within 5 minutes had plucked him to safety. James Bolter, one of the crew members who launched, says: ‘The strong onshore winds were taking the windsurfer closer and closer to a violent section of waves breaking on the sea wall next to the Tivoli arcade. When we arrived it was quite tricky to keep the lifeboat pointing into a heavy sea. Just launching the lifeboat proved challenging due to the very high spring tide.’