Cowes RNLI Lifeboat Station

Grounding Yacht Sparks Lifeboat Call-Out

14th December 2019

The refloated yacht, with a member of the lifeboat crew aboard, is escorted by the lifeboat up the creek.

Cowes lifeboat was launched at lunch-time today to go to the aid of a small yacht in Wootton Creek.

The 20-foot yacht, with two men, a woman and a dog aboard had gone aground on a sandbank in a falling tide. Eventually the lifeboat managed tow the yacht into clear water.

With two of the yacht crew having transferred to the lifeboat, the yacht then made its own way under power up the creek to The Sloop, with a lifeboat crew member aboard.

The lifeboat, which launched just before 2 pm, had been away from the station for just over an hour.

Anne and Penny pose on the lifeboat slipway.

The call-out involved two female firsts for the station; it was the first time that Anne Simkin took charge of an emergency call-out after recently qualifying as a Deputy Launch Authority, and it was also the first time that Penny Jeffcoate had gone out on a ‘shout’ after being accepted as a boat crew trainee.

Prior to becoming a DLA Anne had been a member of the lifeboat crew for three and a half years.