Helicopter winch draws crowds to Penzance Water Safety Day

The promenade at Penzance is used to crowds in summer, but not usually ones gathered to watch a lifeboat crew work beneath a helicopter. Hundreds turned out on Sunday for the Penzance Community Water Safety Day, six hours of blue lights, boats and behind-the-scenes kit strung along the seafront.

📷Credit: Penlee RNLI

Every service on one stretch of seafront

From 11am to 5pm the prom filled with the services people normally only ever see racing past. Penlee Lifeboat, Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service’s Penzance crew, HM Coastguard, the Penzance Neighbourhood Policing Team, the National Coastwatch Institution, Border Force and the Vision Zero road safety partnership all set up alongside stalls and giveaways under the Safer Penzance, Safer Cornwall banner. The billing was “a safer community, together”, and the advice on offer reached past the water to road safety, home fire safety, and crime and anti-social behaviour.

The Penzance Neighbourhood Policing Team said they engaged with hundreds of adults and children, “answering lots of thoughtful questions and sharing important water safety advice”. Plenty of visitors, they said, told them how valuable it was to have so many services in one place, accessible and available for a chat.

📷Credit: Penlee RNLI

The helicopter demonstration

The moment most people came for arrived in the afternoon. Water demonstrations ran from 3pm, weather and operational availability permitting, and the one that stole the day belonged to Penlee RNLI. The station’s volunteers worked their lifeboat alongside a helicopter, including being winched up into the aircraft, the same manoeuvre used to lift a casualty off a boat or out of the sea in a real rescue. It is a routine part of how lifeboat and helicopter crews work together, and rarely something the public gets to watch from a few metres away on dry land.

“One of the highlights of the day was undoubtedly watching the RNLI Penlee Lifeboat working alongside the helicopter, providing a fantastic demonstration that captivated everyone watching,” the Penzance Neighbourhood Policing Team said.

📷Credit: Penlee RNLI

Respect the water

Behind the spectacle sat the reason everyone was there. The message to anyone heading for the sea stays the same: stop and think, spot the dangers before going in, stay close to the people you are with, and in an emergency call 999 and ask for the Coastguard.

Penlee’s crew are no strangers to the real thing. The Penzance station has launched again and again through July, and a display like Sunday’s is a reminder that the volunteers waving families over on the prom are the same ones who go out in the dark when the call comes in.

📷Credit: Penlee RNLI

📷Credit: Penzance Police

📷Credit: Penzance Police

📷Credit: Penzance Police

📷Credit: Penzance Police

📷Credit: Penzance Police

📷Credit: Penzance Police

📷Credit: Penzance Police

📷Credit: Penzance Police

📷Credit: Penzance Police

📷Credit: Penzance Police

📷Credit: Penlee RNLI