Looe lifeboat volunteer’s first shout, off Hannafore

When the launch pagers sounded in Looe just after five on Thursday afternoon, one of the volunteers pulling on his kit was answering the call for the very first time. By the time the boat was back on the slip, two paddleboarders were safely ashore.

The alert reached Looe RNLI Lifeboat Station at 5.07pm on Thursday 13 August, following reports of two people on a paddleboard in difficulty off Hannafore. Volunteer shore crew launched the Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat Spirit of Cooperation, callsign B-946, and the crew were on scene a short time later.

📷Credit: RNLI Looe Lifeboat Station

Two paddleboarders taken back to shallow water

Arriving on scene, the crew found the pair and took them back into shallower water, then saw them safely onto the shore. With both accounted for and out of difficulty, the lifeboat was stood down.

The crew returned to the Albatross boathouse, where the inshore lifeboat was washed down, refuelled and made ready for service again. It was a clean end to a short afternoon call for the station’s volunteer lifeboat crew.

📷Credit: RNLI Looe Lifeboat Station

A first shout for Tom McLaren

For one member of Thursday’s crew, the launch meant a little more than most. It was the first operational shout for Tom McLaren, one of the station’s newest boat crew volunteers.

Every volunteer has a first time the pagers go and they are the one heading out to sea. For Tom, that moment came off Hannafore on a Thursday afternoon in August, with two people to bring back to shore.

The Atlantic 85 is washed down and back on service at the Albatross boathouse, ready for the next time the pagers sound. Whatever that call turns out to be, it will not be Tom’s first.

📷Credit: RNLI Looe Lifeboat Station