Rhyl RNLI called out to spate of incidents over ‘sunny’ weekend

THE volunteer crews of the inshore and all-weather lifeboats were kept busy between 1pm and 6.30pm on Bank Holiday Sunday, with four calls for the inshore lifeboat, and one with the all-weather lifeboat.

The four calls for the inshore lifeboat were all to reports from members of the public, who dialled 999 and contacted the coastguard, regarding inflatable dinghies being carried out to sea due to the strong offshore breeze and incoming tide. Luckily, when the crews got to the inflatables, all were empty, and subsequent enquiries proved all the occupants had managed to get to shore safely.

For three crew, this was a first-time experience of being crew when the station is busy, and was the first ‘shout’ for Tommy Edwards, who had just been passed as a crew member, and is the son of crew member Evan Edwards. Also attending were new crew Matthew Griffiths, Sam Hughes and Paul Elwin.

Crews were swapped for each call, to allow all members to get experience of callouts.

The final call was to a rigid inflatable boat off Llandulas jetty, near to the ‘Nicola Faith’ spot. A party of three foreign persons had attempted to row to the site, but found returning against the offshore wind and ebb tide too much. The all-weather lifeboat launched and escorted the casualties back to Llandulas beach.

Coxswain Martin Jones stressed the importance of attaching a rope to an inflatable and running it to a point on shore, to prevent it blowing away. ‘Luckily, no-one was aboard these inflatables but they were all recovered over half a mile from shore, showing how the elements, even on a sunny day, could catch people unawares’.

He added ‘ The last call showed how unprepared people can be for a trip on the sea. A mile is a long way to row back against the elements’.
Pictures by Paul Frost and Marine traffic app, show inshore and all weather boat tracks, both lifeboats launching, and crowds on Rhyl Beach.