Launches
Three young men launched in a kayak from Blackpool Sands into strong onshore waves and wind. The alarm was raised by a visiting holidaymaker as they were swept away towards the rocks below Matts Point. The staff at the Venus Café called the Coastguard and the local Dartmouth Coastguard SAR team were deployed as well as the RNLI Dart B class Atlantic 75 inshore lifeboat and the RNLI Dart D class. The D class inflatable was sent as there was a strong likelihood that three people would have been in the water requiring rescue and the D class would have been able to go ashore if it was essential. The Coastguard helicopter, with a casualty onboard bound for Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, was diverted to pinpoint the position of the youths. Waves were reaching half way up the cliffs surrounding the cove as the three decided to try and swim ashore and were dumped on the beach by the waves. As the lifeboats arrived off the cove they managed to climb the steps unaided to the Coastguard team who had also just arrived. Back at Blackpool Sands two of the three were assessed by a First Aid trained crewman, Mark Conroy, who had swum ashore from the Atlantic B class. The youngest of the three was sent to hospital by ambulance for further assessment.
Request Received | 5:36pm |
Time at incident | Deprecated: Implicit conversion from float 0.1 to int loses precision in /home/dartlifeboatorg/public_html/launches-detail.php (line 272) 6 minutes |
Time to recovery | Deprecated: Implicit conversion from float 1.0666666666666667 to int loses precision in /home/dartlifeboatorg/public_html/launches-detail.php (line 272) 1 hour, 4 minutes |
Back on Service | 7:04pm |
Sea/River State | Moderate |
Wind Direction | Northeast |
Wind Strength | 21 knots (Gusts: 27 |
Map: trackaship universal