At 09:30 on Saturday morning the Frank and Anne Wilkinson (relief Tamar 16-06) was launched at the request of Solent Coastguard to assist the Charlotte Rose, a 31ft charter angling boat from Langstone Harbour with 8 persons onboard that had broken down close to the Nab Tower. Having ascertained that a local repair was not possible a tow was secured by 09:45 and the Charlotte Rose was towed back to Langstone. The Frank and Anne Wilkinson then returned to Bembridge and was rehoused by 11:00.
The Frank and Anne Wilkinson (relief Tamar 16-06) launched at 01:33 at the request of Solent Coastguard to assist a 20m converted (to a "tall ship") MFV with 5 crew on board approximately 5 miles SSW of St Catherine's Point that had reported (on a mobile as their VHF was not working) that she was taking in water.
The "Norman Harvey" (D-778) was launched at around 07:20 following a request by Solent Coastguard to assist a 30ft sailing yacht that had gone aground at the entrance to Bembridge Harbour with 2 crew onboard after straying outside the channel. Although the "Norman Harvey" was quickly on scene, the yacht was well and truly stuck so the crew were taken ashore at the Duver Marina. D-778 then returned to Lane End and was recovered by 08:00.
RNLB Alfred Albert Williams (Tamar 16-17) launched at around 14:15 this afternoon at the request of Solent Coastguard to assist in a medivac of a casualty from the super yacht Eleonora initially located north of St Helens Fort. In the event, the Lifeboat stood by whilst the casualty was eventually winched up to the CG helicopter, Rescue 104, and taken to hospital on the mainland. The AAW then returned to Bembridge and was recovered by 15:45.
The Bembridge RNLI Tamar class Lifeboat “Alfred Albert Williams” was launched at the request of Solent Coastguard at 4.30pm to assist the 21’ sports fisher “Marialla” with three people on board whose propeller had become fouled.
The casualty was approximately a mile east of the Nab Tower and was drifting with the tide. The Lifeboat was quickly alongside 26 minutes after launching and having established a tow, passage was made back to Southsea Marina, the casualties home port.
In the event a false alarm but it might well not have been. The Tamar Class All Weather Lifeboat, Alfred Albert Williams (AAW) launched at about 17:10 at the request of Solent CG to investigate a report of an anchored but unmanned motorboat with its engine running to the south of No Mans Land Fort.
The Alfred Albert Williams (Tamar 16-17) was launched at around 01:15 this morning to go to the assistance of a single handed 36ft motor sailing yacht whose engine had broken down and was struggling to make any progress under sail against the very strong tide 16 miles south of Bembridge Ledge.
The Alfred Albert Williams was launched at 02:40 to assist a 27ft yacht that had lost all power and was in the main channel in the vicinity of No Mans Land Fort with 2 crew onboard. They did not have any VHF communications and had alerted Solent Coastguard on a mobile phone.
The yacht was eventually located off Spit Bank Fort at around 03:15. They towed her to Haslar Marina and were back on the slip at Bembridge by 04:00.
The first launch of the Bembridge offshore Tamar Lifeboat “Alfred Albert Williams” this year occurred today when Solent Coastguard requested our assistance to search for a missing woman.
The woman was on the overnight sailing of the Brittany ferry “Mont St Michel” from Portsmouth to Caen France, having docked in Caen this morning an unattended bag, passport and other personal items were found.
Launching at 11.07 the Lifeboat was tasked to carry out a search mirroring the ferries route towards an area approximately 20 miles off of the French coast.
The ILB launched at about 10:30 this morning in support of the Police & local Coastguard to help locate someone (understood to be a male in his 50s) who was missing on Culver Down. After the man was located on the edge of the cliff, the ILB stood off monitoring the situation for over an hour and a half and returned to Bembridge at about 12:30 and placed on 5 minute standby. Local media have since reported that the man was successfully taken to safety at around 13:50 and subsequently taken to St Mary's Hospital for a check up.
