3 x SAR Incidents – Saturday, 14 August 2021
At 11:48 on Saturday 14 August, Operators in JESCC received a 999 call from Kayakers in trouble in the Petit Bot area on the South coast of Guernsey which resulted in a multiagency response from Guernsey Coastguard, Guernsey Police, St John’s Ambulance Service and both, the St Peter Port All-Weather Lifeboat “Spirit of Guernsey” and the Inshore Lifeboat “Elizabeth & Margaret Milligan.
The Inshore Lifeboat arrived on scene at 12:11 closely followed by the All-weather Lifeboat at 12:15. A medical assessment of the Kayakers, who had been in the water for some time was made and because of the serious condition of one of the casualties, it was decided to attempt to land them ashore to the beach at Petit Bot where Ambulance and Police staff were waiting.
Due to a large swell in the bay, this was not possible, and the decision was made to transfer the casualties to the All-Weather Lifeboat for transportation back to St Peter Port.
Both Lifeboats arrived back into St Peter Port at 12:42 where all casualties were handed over to a waiting Ambulance there.
Both Lifeboats were back on station by 13:06
At 18:21, Guernsey Coastguard received a call from a RIB that had suffered mechanical failure and was in need of assistance approximately 4 nautical miles North of Platte Fougere on the North Coast of Guernsey.
At 18:25 a Pan-Pan broadcast was made and motor vessel “Laura Jane” offered assistance and proceeded to the scene.
At 18:34 the St Peter Port All-Weather Lifeboat “Spirit of Guernsey” was also launched to go to the aid of the broken-down RIB.M/V “Laura Jane” arrived on scene at 18:56 and managed to establish a tow with the RIB which was handed over to the All-Weather Lifeboat at 19:12.“Spirit of Guernsey” and the casualty vessel arrived back into St Peter Port at 19:36 where the tow was handed over to Guernsey Harbour staff.
The Lifeboat was back on station by 19:41
It was during the second incident that at 19:00, another vessel approximately half a nautical mile north-west of the “Lower Heads” buoy called Guernsey Coastguard to declare an engine failure and that they too needed assistance.
The vessel “Grafter” responded to the casualty vessel’s call and arrived on scene at 19:26 whereby a tow was established and both boats arrived safely back into St Peter Port at 19:46.
