Port St Mary RNLI station had a busy Wednesday morning with two shouts consecutively.
HM Coastguard paged the volunteer crew of the lifeboat at 10:44am to assist a 10m catamaran that was having difficulty negotiating the entrance into Castletown Outer Harbour to render assistance if required.
The weather conditions were far from ideal with force 5 SSW wind gusting to force 8, yet the RNLI lifeboat was on scene at 11:15am and Castletown Coastguard Team were also called.
Having assessed the situation they advised that they would fire a rocket line to the catamaran to assist the berthing operation and allow a mooring line to be passed and secured.
Once the catamaran was safely alongside the harbour wall, a request was made to tow the vessel into the inner harbour, however this tow request was declined as there was no threat to life and the inner harbour depth of water was too shallow.
Having been released from the incident the all-weather lifeboat returned to Port St Mary arriving back on the mooring at 12:15pm.
All The Shouts
The boarding boat had been washed down and the boathouse doors were about to be closed when a member of the public telephoned to report that children were screaming from the swimming platform in Chapel Bay.
Mike Teare, Port St Mary RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager, immediately authorised the launch of the inshore lifeboat to attend at 12:50pm and the volunteer crew proceeded at full speed to the swimming platform.
They arrived in four minutes where they discovered two boys who were screaming with delight rather than fear.
The inshore lifeboat crew ensured that the boys were not in danger and persuaded them to make it back to the shore on their bodyboards keeping them under observation until they reached the beach safely.
Mike said: “It was a busy morning for the crew, who are always ready to respond to a call for help at the drop of a hat. Although the children were not in danger in the second shout, it was a genuine call with good intent from a member of the public.
“With summer holidays now here, if you see any situations that require assistance call 999 and ask for the Coastguard. Incidents at sea can escalate very quickly so every second counts.”
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