The charity that saves lives at sea around the south east coastline has experienced another busy summer period of rescues, as evidenced by figures released today.
Statistics issued by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution showed lifeboats from 23 stations in the south east* launched a total 664 times between June and August 2013. This represents a very small drop of just 3.2 per cent from the 686 launches recorded in 2012.
Conversely, the charity’s lifeguards, which operate on 15 beaches in the south east of England**, saw a marginal increase in the number of incidents they dealt with, from 615 incidents during the 2012 summer season to 629 incidents in 2013.
The statistics amount to yet another incredibly busy summer of saving lives from the beach to the open sea for the RNLI’s hundreds of volunteer lifeboat crew members and paid and volunteer lifeguards.
The busiest coastal lifeboat station across the UK and Republic of Ireland was Southend-on-Sea, with 104 lifeboat launches. Furthermore, Eastbourne, Hayling Island and Gravesend – all in the south east region – were among the top ten busiest stations.
On the Isle of Wight the number of lifeboat launches was 57 in 2013, down from last year’s figure of 80. At the four mainland stations in Hampshire there were 155 lifeboat launches, down from 158 last year. Volunteers from the eight Sussex stations launched 241 times, slightly more than the 220 in 2012. And in Kent, lifeboats launched 162 times this summer, compared to 185 last year.
Andrew Ashton, RNLI Regional Operations Manager, said: ‘Yet again 2013 has been busy for our volunteer lifeboat crew members and our lifeguards. We had some really lovely sunny days this summer – temperatures in the 30s in some places – so it’s hardly surprising we were called out to so many incidents.
‘Despite the small decrease in lifeboat activity in Hampshire, Sussex and Kent, overall for the RNLI it has been the busiest summer for 24 years, with a total of 4,300 lifeboat launches.’
The RNLI chose the summer months to launch a safety campaign to combat drowning among men aged 20-45 years, which ran in Brighton, Margate and Portsmouth in August. The summer was also populated by a number of notable rescues around the region, for example:
• Yarmouth and Lymington RNLI lifeboat crews assisting a yacht in the Solent in gale force winds – a woman had to be airlifted after suffering a head injury
• Calshot RNLI crew assisting three young girls who were struggling to stay afloat off Lepe Beach
• Eastbourne RNLI helping a man who was injured after base jumping off cliffs near Beachy Head
• Lifeguards at Littlehampton rescuing a toddler in danger of drowning
• Newhaven RNLI saving a paraglider who crash-landed into the ocean
• Rye Harbour aiding a man trapped in the River Rother and unable to climb to safety up the seaweed-strewn bank
• Littlestone-on-Sea lifeboat crew helping a man whose arm had been severed in a mechanical accident onboard a fishing vessel
• Clacton RNLI saving a five year old girl and her dad who fell off a jetski without wearing lifejackets
• Lifeguards from Westbrook Bay beach in Thanet helping a girl struggling to breathe and a man who had collapsed suffering chest pains
• Margate lifeboat volunteers helping two people who abandoned a broken down speedboat but got into difficult when they tried to swim ashore
The busy summer season highlights once again the important work of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, which remains a charity and relies entirely on voluntary contributions to run its lifeboats. It is only through donations and support from the public that the charity was able to launch lifeboats or carry out lifeguard rescues.
Image by RNLI Nathan Willaims