Our lifeboat crews and lifeguards carry out thousands of rescues every year. Here are just some of those caught on camera, and see the following pages for more reports:
6 TOBERMORY | PAGE 10
7 LOOE | PAGE 14
8 CASTLETOWNBERE | PAGE 16

Watch and read the latest rescues online at RNLI.org/news or facebook.com/RNLI.
Words: Jon Jones
Photos: RNLI/(David Clarke, Cleethorpes, Mick Howes, Shakira Rushton, Michael Thomas)

1 ALL ADRIFT
HOLYHEAD | 29 SEPTEMBER 2018
RNLI pagers went off just after 8am when an Irish fishing crew found themselves drifting 21 miles off Holyhead after their vessel suffered mechanical failure. The lifeboat crew swiftly arrived on scene, checked everyone was OK, and set up a tow. After 5 hours at sea, the lifesavers returned to harbour with the broken fishing boat and her crew. The two fishermen went to Ireland on the next ferry, leaving their boat to be repaired locally. Holyhead Coxswain Tony Price says: ‘It’s always a shame for people and craft in difficulty, and it’s particularly tough when they’re earning a living from the sea. We wish them well.’

2 SOGGY DOG TALE
CHISWICK | 9 SEPTEMBER 2018
Chiswick crew tackled their seventh dog-related rescue of the year when a woman got stuck trying to pull her pet Labrador out of the River Thames. The woman was clinging to a ladder, knee-deep in water, before she was taken onboard the lifeboat with her dog Brodie. Crew members checked the woman over and took her and Brodie back to dry land at Imperial Wharf. Helm Glen Monroe says: ‘We always
advise people not to put themselves at risk by following their dogs into the water. Instead, they should dial 999 and ask for the coastguard.’

3 HANDS TO THE PUMP
CLEETHORPES AND HUMBER | 11 NOVEMBER 2018
Two of our crews joined forces when a yacht, with three men aboard, started taking on water 2 miles off Grimsby. The crew of a commercial vessel kept the yacht safe until Cleethorpes lifeboat arrived. Happy that the people were OK, the RNLI crew had to clear the seawater before they could tow the yacht into port. Humber lifeboat crew joined the operation with a salvage pump and helped to get the yacht and her crew safely into Grimsby. Cleethorpes Helm Steve Burton says: ‘This was a complex rescue involving a number of teams. I’m sure the yacht would have been lost without our assistance.’

4 SAFETY MISSION
LOWESTOFT | 14 OCTOBER 2018
As some of the UK’s finest young sailors battled it out in the Laser UK World and European qualifiers, Lowestoft lifesavers battled their way to the event’s safety boat. The rigid-inflatable, with two people onboard, was stranded on Newcombe Sands and being pounded by waves. Lowestoft Coxswain John Fox says: ‘They were towing marker buoys when ropes and chains fouled their propeller and stopped the engine. As seawater engulfed the craft they lost the ignition key overboard. We threw them a tow and brought them back to the yacht basin. The two crew were fine – if a little wet!’

5 BEDRAGGLED CAT
DOVER | 18 NOVEMBER 2018
Lifeboat volunteers were called into rough seas one evening to help rescue two people and their sinking catamaran 1½ miles off Dover. The local harbour patrol crew helped the sailors while the RNLI crew towed the stricken vessel in to prevent it from being a hazard to other boats. Unfortunately, it foundered in the 2½m swells at Dover’s western entrance, so the tow was cut and Dover Harbour Patrol kept a close eye on the vessel as it drifted and eventually beached. Its two occupants were wet and shaken but otherwise OK, and warmed up with a nice cuppa at the lifeboat station.