Lymington and Calshot RNLI along with HM Coastguard rescue helicopter respond to mayday call after person falls overboard near Calshot Spit
CREWS from Lymington RNLI responded to a mayday call after a person fell overboard from a sailing yacht near Calshot Spit.
The lifeboat had been launched just after 11.20am last Thursday following reports of a drifting life raft near Yarmouth, but shortly after it was diverted following an emergency call from HM Coastguard alerting the crew to the mayday incident.
On arrival the Lymington crew discovered the casualty had been picked out of the water by a passing rib.
Lymington's Atlantic 85 lifeboat was brought alongside the rib and two crew members went onboard to complete an assessment.
As the casualty had swallowed a lot of water, having been dragged by a rope behind the yacht, and was suffering from shock, an immediate evacuation by helicopter was requested.
Calshot lifeboat’s crew kept all vessels out of the winching area, while Lymington RNLI assisted with his recovery by helicopter. The casualty was then taken to hospital.
Lymington RNLI helm Phil Baker said: “We practice formation winching exercises with HM Coastguard helicopters to ensure real life rescues run smoothly, as this one did.
“The casualty was assessed and extracted quickly and safely. We wish him a speedy recovery”.
The crews then co-ordinated the recovery of the casualty’s belongings and the Calshot lifeboat accompanied the yacht to Cowes Yacht Haven.
Lymington lifeboat was then re-tasked to the search for the drifting life raft, which was unsuccessful and the boat stood down after fours hours at sea.
However, following another sighting of the life raft casing the crew, now under the helm of Greg Pachany, were able to locate and recover it later that afternoon.
Lifeboat operations manager Alistair Mackay said: “It is important to recover any safety equipment found drifting, especially a life raft, as the serial number will enable the coastguard to determine which vessel it came from and confirm they are safe”.
