Looe RNLI’s bank holiday: two rescues in two hours

The August bank holiday brought crowds down to Looe’s beaches, and for the town’s volunteer lifeboat crew it also brought two separate call-outs inside a little over two hours.

A leg injury on Portnadler beach

The first pagers of the afternoon sounded at 12.45pm on Monday 31 August 2026. Looe RNLI‘s volunteer crew launched the charity’s D Class inshore lifeboat, Ollie Naismith II, and headed west to Portnadler beach, where a man had injured his leg.

Crew members went ashore to check on him, then decided the quickest way back was by lifeboat rather than on foot. He was brought aboard Ollie Naismith II and taken back to the lifeboat station, where family members were waiting to collect him and take him on to A&E themselves.

📷Courtesy of www.marinetraffic.com

A paddleboarder in trouble off Banjo Pier

The D Class had barely been washed down and made ready again before the pagers went a second time, at 3.01pm. Falmouth Coastguard’s Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre had taken a 999 call from the friend of a woman on a stand up paddleboard, who was struggling to get back to shore off Banjo Pier in a strong offshore wind.

It was low tide, and Looe’s crew were out on the riverbed walking alongside the tractor towing Ollie Naismith II down to the water when they spotted a local boat already bringing the woman in. She reached water shallow enough to stand and waded the rest of the way to the beach herself. The crew carried out a casualty care check, confirmed she was unhurt, and gave her some friendly advice on staying safe on the water in strong offshore winds before standing down and heading back to the station.

📷Courtesy of www.marinetraffic.com

Looe Coastguard Rescue Team members were tasked to both incidents alongside the lifeboat crew.

📷Credit: RNLI / Ian Foster