Five people winched from rocks by helicopter at Marazion

Chapel Rock, just off the seafront at Marazion, barely looks like an island at low tide. Walk out across the sand to it and, within the hour, the sea can close the route back both ways. That is roughly what caught out five people yesterday afternoon, and it ended with a helicopter winch over St Michael’s Mount.

📷Credit: Jane

Five people cut off on Chapel Rock

The Penzance Coastguard Rescue Team was tasked at 16.33 yesterday (Sunday 30 August) to reports of people cut off by the tide on Chapel Rock. It was tasking 56 of the year for the volunteer team.

They were quickly on scene and could see the group on the rock, along with a lifeguard who was already talking with them from the water.

📷Credit: Jane

Why the rescue went to the air

Sea conditions were worsening by the time Penlee’s all-weather lifeboat and coastguard helicopter Rescue 924 arrived. While the Penlee crew prepared and launched their Y boat, the helicopter crew assessed the scene from above and decided a winch rescue was the safer option.

As the five people were lifted one by one up to the helicopter, coastguard officers on the ground were already preparing a helicopter landing site on the Folly Field, clearing the play park and the seafront so Rescue 924 could put down safely once the winching was done.

📷Credit: Jane

What makes Chapel Rock catch people out

The rock sits a short walk from the beach at low water, close to the causeway that links Marazion to St Michael’s Mount, and it is easy to lose track of time once you are out on it. The sand that carried you there is under water again long before it looks obvious from a distance, and the walk back can turn into a wade or worse with little warning.

Checking tide times before heading out to any rock, sandbar or causeway along this stretch of coast, and turning back well before the tide is due to cut off the route, is the difference between an afternoon out and a call to the coastguard.

📷Credit: Jane

The rescue team involved

Once Rescue 924 landed on the Folly Field, the five people were handed over to the waiting coastguard officers, who gave them safety advice before they went on their way.

The Penzance team thanked Penlee’s lifeboat crew, the helicopter crew of Rescue 924, Marazion’s lifeguards, and the members of the public who moved clear of the seafront and play park to let the helicopter land.

📷Credit: Jane