Lifeboat crewmen's brave rescue
Published 6 Jan 2012 09:30
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THIS picture by Paul Hunter, taken at Helensburgh seafront on Tuesday morning, shows the type of sea conditions the lifeboat crewmen had to endure to carry out the rescue.
Eight lifeboat crewmen rescued five people from yachts in Rhu Marina on Tuesday morning at the height of the storm.
Clyde Coastguard requested the assistance of Helensburgh RNLI lifeboat crew to rescue five people on board three yachts in Rhu Marina, one of which had broken free from its mooring.
They had been on board their yachts overnight, and with a heavy sea running through the marina and with storm force winds recorded, they were unable to get ashore.
An RNLI spokesman said: "As weather conditions were exceeding the lifeboat's operational limits, the lifeboat crew had to go out onto the marina walkways to assist.
"The extreme weather conditions had caused several yachts to break their moorings in the marina and several vessels had sunk.
"The marina pontoons were moving vertically by around a metre, making it virtually impossible to walk on them."
He continued: "In very dangerous conditions eight crew members proceeded out onto the pontoons to assist the five people to shore.
"At times the crew had to proceed on hands and knees due to the violent movement of the walkways."
By about 9.35am, all were safely ashore, and as a precaution an ambulance crew checked out two of the rescued yachtsmen.
The wind direction was westerly with gusts of 61 knots recorded in the marina (Force 11 - violent storm). Clyde Coastguard reported gusts of 77 knots at Greenock.
Colin Gardiner, marina operations manager, commended the crew for their actions in what he described as "the worse conditions he had ever seen in the marina".
This article appeared in Helensburgh Advertiser 05 Jan 12
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