A Monthly Publication

By Geoff Needham

On the 14th Sept .2009 at 18:37 hrs. Hunstanton Lifeboat DJS Haverhill registration No. B-749

launched on service to a report of a wind surfer in trouble of Hunstanton, on arrival at casualty it was confirmed  that he had been in trouble with rig failure, but had managed to get himself ashore, Yarmouth Coastguard requested L/boat to make sure that no other persons were involved, this was confirmed and our  L/boat  was released to return to station, weather conditions were wind speed 4 to 5 on the Beaufort

scale (11 to 21 knots) NE seas moderate.

17th Sept. 2009 at 18:51 hrs Yar. CG received a 999 call from some canoeists that a member of their party had gone off on his own and was 1 hr. overdue and they were concerned for his safety as he had no previous experience of canoeing, they were in Brancaster harbour area, High tide was at 18:33 hrs a little over 8 mtrs high, so there was a lot of water over the marshes, Hunstanton L/boat B-749 launched on service, and was off Titchwell when local CG team confirmed that the person had turned up safe, he had got lost but was now OK. The lifeboat returned to station.

19th Sept. 2009 at 21:05 hrs. Yar. CG requested launch of Hunstanton L/boat to assist in search with Skegness L/boats to locate a 29 ft yacht lost in the Wash whilst on passage from Wisbech to Snettisham three persons on board, only means of communication was a mobile phone with a low battery,  no compass, flares,  radio or any other means to contact the CG.  He had left the river Nene at about 10:00 hrs that morning, HW  0714 hrs. 8.1 mtr tide, just on three hrs after top of tide and had run aground on a sandbank somewhere in the Wash, no surprise there, (them big ole tides run out at a fair rate,) He was stuck there until the tide refloated him later that afternoon, he made his way towards Snettisham but darkness overtook them and they became completely lost, both L/boats fired para flares to illuminate the search area, but the lack of a compass on the casualty vessel meant he was unable to give a bearing to the L/boats in relation to him and sighting the flares,  other than yes they are a long way off to the right of me. at around 22:30 hrs Hunstanton CG mobile unit located the vessel with their searchlight approx. half mile off  Snettisham beach, Hunstanton L/boat went alongside to assess the situation, and because the tide was dropping away fairly quick persuaded the owner of the yacht to allow his twelve year old daughter and a teenage lad to be transferred to the lifeboat to be brought back to the boathouse, he was going to stay on board, B-749 then made for deeper water not wanting to spend the next few hours on Snettisham beach, the youngsters were brought back to the boathouse to be reunited with the girls mother who had travelled from Snettisham where she was staying in a caravan, the yacht remained aground at Snettisham, this incident was avoidable; the owner of the vessel going to sea without any regard to insuring he had the right equipment to safeguard his crew and vessel, the sea can be a very cruel place, to put to sea without carrying the basic requirements to get out trouble if things go wrong is utterly ridiculous and reckless.

20th Sept. 2009 at 17:03 hrs in response to a 999 call Yar CG requested launch of our Hovercraft to a person cut off by the tide on a sandbank off Hunstanton, the person managed to make his own way ashore and was spoken to by the local CG. possible alcohol related, H-003 was stood down.

22nd Sept.2009 at 13:25 hrs Yar. CG requested launch of Hunstanton L/boat to go to the aid of a kite surfer reported to be in trouble of Old Hunstanton B-749 launched and on arrival at scene it was confirmed that with the aid of another kiter he had made it to the shore, he said he had been in trouble due to a line breaking and was unable to use his kite, after establishing that no other persons were involved Yar CG were informed and B-749 returned to station.

4th Oct. 2009 07:35 Yar. CG requested launch of Hunstanton L/boat to search for a Volvo car believed to be in the sea between Hunstanton and Burnham Overy. B-749 launched to search area from station towards Burnham, Hunstanton CG mobile unit located what appeared to be a vehicle with just the roof showing in the middle of the marsh down shore road at Thornham, the lifeboat was unable to get to the position as the tide was starting to ebb off the marshes.  The L/boat stood by and after about 20 minutes the CG team managed to walk down to the vehicle, they confirmed that no persons were in the vehicle, the vehicle was searched but nothing untoward was found. it was believed the vehicle went down there in the early hours of the morning and became stuck in the mud and the tide came in over it, the occupants both Lithuanian from the Wisbech area and could not speak English phoned a friend in Wisbech who could speak English and told him that they were in the sea somewhere between Hunstanton and Burnham Overy, he informed the CG, it was not known to us what they were doing down such a remote area at that time of the day.  B-749 returned to station and the crew carried on with Sunday morning exercise.

These last two months have certainly been busy for our station and other stations around the coast the incidents have been varied, some unfortunate and plain bad luck, lack of knowledge of local tidal conditions, others putting to sea ill equipped,  we at the station are always willing to advise would be seafarers on sea safety issues, as will the local Coast Guard as both organisations work together to promote sea safety.