At 1pm this afternoon, the Eastbourne RNLI volunteer crew was paged for the 61st time this year by HM Coastguard. A 999 call had been made by a member of the public in Normans Bay after spotting a kayaker and a paddleboarder being blown out to sea by an offshore breeze.
The volunteer crew quickly assembled and launched the Inshore D Class lifeboat “David H” within 11 minutes of the pager going off. They made their way to the last reported sighting of the casualties and began a search. Meanwhile, the crew onshore were on standby to launch the All-Weather Lifeboat “Esme Anderson” to support the search.
Upon arrival at the scene, the crew plotted a search grid and began looking for the paddleboarder and kayaker. Due to the weather conditions and wind, both casualties were approximately 2 miles offshore. The crew swiftly located and recovered both individuals, who were then returned to the beach at Normans Bay, where they were met by family and local coastguard rescue teams.
The volunteer crews were then stood down before returning to the station, washing down the lifeboat, and preparing it for the next tasking.
A spokesperson for the RNLI commended the first informant for their quick thinking: “The first informant did the right thing by calling 999 and asking for the coastguard, passing on the location of the two people needing assistance and not entering the water to try and help.”
