4 Shouts in 3 Days for Littlehampton RNLI

Littlehampton Lifeboat crews have had a busy few days on the water with four call outs in three days and a hectic and fun packed open weekend at the boathouse.

The first launch was on Saturday morning at 9:57am to assist a small fishing boat that had attempted to go to sea in blustery conditions and low water. The vessel with two men aboard hit the bar across the mouth of the River Arun and found themselves blown onto the steel sheeting that protects the river walls. ‘Spirit of Juniper’ Littlehampton’s D-class lifeboat towed them to the safety of the sailing club moorings.

The next incident came on Monday afternoon after a 999 call from a lone sailor in distress en route from Gosport in a motor/sailboat with a fuel blockage 9 miles south of the harbour entrance. Crewmen Keith Booth, Nick Miller and Ollie Clark launched ‘Blue Peter 1’ Littlehampton’s Atlantic 75 lifeboat at 3:58pm. Arriving on scene the crew found a very tired casualty attempting to sail his 35ft vessel toward Littlehampton’s harbour. Lifeboat crewmen and experienced sailor, Nick Miller jumped aboard to relieve the elderly gentleman and sailed the vessel back to the harbour entrance where the crew then took her under tow to the visitor’s moorings by the harbour office.

The next shout came later that evening after a 999 call to the coastguard reporting a kite rig in the water south of the Bognor Yacht Club. ‘Blue Peter 1’ launched at 9:09pm to search the area for not only the rig but potentially a stranded kite surfer. The kite was easily found and appeared to be home made out of bin liners, after a thorough search of the area the crew, Andy Harris and brothers Olly and Liam Clarke headed home.

At 3:19pm on Tuesday afternoon ‘Blue Peter 1‘ was launched once more to a 17ft Dory with electrical failure a mile south of the harbour entrance. The lone man aboard used his VHF radio to call for help. The crew arrived swiftly but the casualty vessel seemed to have regained power so the Atlantic escorted the vessel back into the harbour.