Summer months are always busy for the volunteer crew of Ramsgate RNLI and this weekend was no exception with four launches.
The first was on Friday afternoon at 4.19pm when the inshore lifeboat Claire and David Delves was launched to a motor yacht off Ramsgate Harbour which had engine drive failure. They had deployed their anchor but it wasn’t holding in the Ramsgate sands.
As part of her training plan to become a helm and to gain experience volunteer Becky Cannon, under the guidance of her father Coxswain Ian Cannon, put a rope on the anchor to assist in lifting it and then the decision was made to take the vessel under tow back into Ramsgate Harbour, where it was assisted to its berth in the inner marina.
In the early hours of Sunday morning the pagers went off at 4.26am and the inshore lifeboat was launched to the assistance of a young person who had got into difficulties whilst swimming off the East Pier. After coming alongside the casualty, the crew assisted them onboard and took them to the RNLI station and after warming up returned home.
On Sunday lunchtime at 1.33pm once again the inshore was deployed to a twenty five metre yacht with engine failure reported to be off Broadstairs. On arrival it was found that the boat was already under tow and was located at the West Quern Buoy. The inshore took over the tow from the assisting sailing boat and brought the casualty on to a pontoon in the Harbour.
Then just before midnight at 11.38pm the All weather Esme Anderson launched to a fourteen metre yacht coming from Holland that had run out of fuel and was unable to sail into the harbour due to lack of wind or tide. They were located by the Number 2 buoy in the Ramsgate Approach Channel where a tow rope was passed to the yacht and it was taken in tow back to a berth in Ramsgate Harbour.
Coxswain Ian Cannon said: “The summer months are always a large drain on our resources and we are more grateful than ever to all of our supporters and people who donate as the RNLI is solely funded by public donation.”
