Our lifeboat crews and lifeguards carry out thousands of rescues every year (see launches on page 34). Here are just some of those caught on camera, and see the list below for more reports:

6 CROYDE | PAGE 10
7 YOUGHAL | PAGE 14
8 DART | PAGE 16

You can also watch and read the latest rescues online at RNLI.org/news.
Words: Jon Jones
Photos: RNLI/(Nathan Wilmer, Jamie Tyrrell, Dan Holland, Mick Howes, Redcar)

1 A RACE AGAINST TIME CAMBER SANDS

3 AUGUST
Two teenage lifeguards joined the RNLI team patrolling Camber Sands for the first time this year. And when an injured kitesurfer was at the mercy of the fast incoming tide, they called on their casualty care training to save him. The man’s kite had spiralled out of control, slamming him into the ground repeatedly and breaking his pelvis. With the tide almost upon him, the lifeguards swiftly evacuated the casualty on a spinal board and worked with paramedics to get him to hospital.

2 STUCK FAST
BARMOUTH | 21 AUGUST
Both lifeboat crews were paged when a yacht broke its moorings and got caught up in Barmouth Bridge. With the vessel wedged fast on the incoming tide, the lifeboat volunteers and Barmouth Coastguard Rescue Team stood by until low water before working to untangle it. The yacht’s mast broke around 10pm, which finally released it from the bridge and meant that the inshore RNLI crew could guide it to safety, preventing further damage and potential hazard.

3 THROWN OVERBOARD
KESSOCK | 7 JUNE
Kessock lifeboat volunteers joined forces with a Coastguard helicopter when two sailors were thrown  rom their wooden dinghy in choppy seas. The men had been struggling in the cold water for more than 30 minutes before someone raised the alarm and the lifeboat crew were able to pluck them out. RNLI Helm Stan MacRae says: ‘It was obvious they needed further medical attention so we got them winched up to the helicopter and away to hospital as fast as possible.’

4 LATE LEAK
LOWESTOFT | 24 SEPTEMBER
The master of a windfarm crew carrier called for help in the small hours when he noticed water rushing into one of his vessel’s engine compartments. When Lowestoft lifeboat crew reached the scene, a volunteer went aboard with a salvage pump and managed to expel most of the water. With one engine still running, the casualty vessel and her five-man crew could limp into Lowestoft under the watchful eye of the RNLI crew. They all safely reached port at 3.30am.

5 NOTORIOUS TRAP
REDCAR | 21 AUGUST
When two siblings got stranded at the base of Huntcliff, a notorious spot for tidal cut off, it didn’t take Redcar lifeboat crew long to arrive. A crew member waded ashore and guided the man and woman over rocks to the lifeboat. ‘The lady was upset and needed reassurance,’ says Lifeboat Operations Manager Dave Cocks. ‘All too often, once someone finds themselves cut off ahead, the sea has risen behind them as well so there’s nowhere to go.'