Padstow RNLI’s double shout takes crew to Trevose Head

Padstow’s volunteer lifeboat crew spent Wednesday going back and forth between two very different jobs on the water, one just after teatime and one in the pitch dark gone ten at night.

A dead battery off Bude

The first page went out at 3.59pm. Padstow RNLI‘s volunteers launched to back up Bude RNLI, called out to reports of a broken down fishing vessel.

Once the two crews reached the boat, a Padstow crew member and a Bude RNLI crew member climbed aboard to see what could be done. A battery was passed across and the fishing boat’s engine started. With power restored, the vessel was able to steam under its own engine towards Bude, escorted the whole way by both lifeboats.

Padstow’s volunteers were back at the station by 7.35pm.

📷Credit: RNLI

A tow from 35 miles out

The pagers went again at 10.32pm, this time for a yacht in difficulties 35 miles north north west of Trevose Head. Its engine had failed and its rigging had been damaged, leaving it well out into the Atlantic after dark.

Once alongside, the crew assessed the situation and judged that towing the yacht was the safest course of action. Padstow’s lifeboat brought it safely back through the night to a mooring in the Camel Estuary.

The lifeboat was refuelled and ready for service again by 7.30am, not long after the second shout had first gone out.

📷Credit: RNLI