Shout Reports

The St Ives Lifeboats were called on Sunday Afternoon to rescue a house boat with 4 people on board,trying to make their way to Gweek after leaving Hayle Harbour.

The owner of the boat Maid Of The Mist had left Hayle Harbour on Sunday 21 st October, after the boat had been used as a residence in Hayle harbour for many years, with the intention of moving the boat around the coast to Gweek. However they got into trouble as they approached the Gurnard's Head after experiencing gear box problems, and then finding that the small emergency outboard was not sufficient to move the vessel safely.

The St Ives All Weather Lifeboat The Princess Royal was launched shortly before 2:00 pm with Second Coxswain Paul Whiston in charge, and made it's way quickly to the stricken vessel. After putting three crew from the Lifeboat on the Maid of the Mist and taking the 4 people from the Maid of the Mist back to the Lifeboat, the Lifeboat crew had a number of problems finding a suitable place to safely attach the tow to on the Maid of the Mist before the vessel was finally taken under tow to return to St Ives.

However after setting off for the return journey the Lifeboat crew on the Maid of the Mist reported that she was taking on water, and a pump from the Lifeboat had to be put aboard the casualty vessel to stop her sinking. With the pump only just coping with the inflow of water there were concerns that casualty vessel was likely to sink, and so the Inshore Lifeboat was also launched, with crewman Robert Cocking at the helm, to stand by the Maid of the Mist for the remainder of the journey.

Eventually the Lifeboat did manage to get the Maid of the Mist to the safety of St Ives harbour at around 4:30 pm, where the boat was moored to the wall of Smeaton's Pier.

The St Ives Inshore Lifeboat Colin Bramley Parker was launched this afternoon to assist a single handed yacht which had struck rocks and was taking on wate

The yacht Seaspray hit rocks at Clodgy Point, on the western side of St Ives sometime just before 15:00 this afternoon (Thursday 13 th September 2007), it is not know at this point how/why this happened. After indicating to a passing boat that all was OK, the yachtsman began to make his way the short distance to St Ives harbour, with the St Ives Harbour Master Steve Bassett keeping an eye on him after he had been informed of what had happened. However as he approached St Ives harbour it became clear that he was quickly taking on water, at the Harbourmaster contacted Falmouth Coastguard to request assistance for the yacht.

The St Ives Inshore Lifeboat was launched at 15:15, with George Deacon at the helm, to take a pump to the yacht which was now just off St Ives Smeaton's Pier. With the pump in place putting the sea back where it belonged, the ILB crew helped manoeuvre the yacht into the harbour, while the assistant harbourmaster helped make temporary repairs to the hole in the side of the yacht.

With little else they could do, the Inshore Lifeboat crew are helping the yacht further into the harbour with the tide, with the aim of beaching it at high tide so that repairs can be made in slower time.

The St Ives Lifeboat The Princess Royal was launched on Monday 10 th September 2007, to assist a Fisherman on the French Fishing Vessel Grand Saint Bernard .

The lifeboat was launched at 11.45am following a request from Falmouth Coastguard to help evacuate the Fisherman who was suspected to have a thrombosis in his leg, so that he could be taken to hospital. The Lifeboat met with the fishing boat 6 miles North of St Ives, where the casualty was transferred to the Lifeboat for the journey back to St Ives, arriving to meet the waiting ambulance crew at approximately 12.50.

Coincidentally this is the third time in three years that the St Ives Lifeboat has taken medical casualties from the same vessel the Grand Saint Bernard, the previous occasion being in January of this year when an injured fisherman was brought ashore after a fishing accident at sea.

The St Ives Inshore Lifeboat The Princess Royal was launched on Sunday evening (5 th August 2007) after reports that a surfer needed assistance in the water at ?Red River' near Gwithian.

The St Ives Inshore Lifeboat Colin Bramley Parker was launched at 9:36 pm, with Daniel Basset at the helm and crewed by Scott Perkin and Barney Stevens. Arriving at the scene they found one of the surfers in the water was in need of the assistance and so he was taken into the ILB and was taken back to shore, before the ILB made it's way back across the bay to St Ives.

The St Ives Lifeboats took part in a major search for two overdue divers on Saturday afternoon, fortunately the missing divers were found after almost four hours of searching, a happy ending for all concerned.

The St Ives Lifeboats were launched on Saturday afternoon (4 th August 2007) after a report from a Dive Boat that two divers who were diving off the train wreck (Saint Chamond) approximately 3 miles North West of St Ives, failed to surface after their allotted dive time.

The All Weather Lifeboat The Princess Royal was launched at 1:15 pm, with the Inshore Lifeboat launched shortly after. An extensive search of the area was then conducted by the St Ives Lifeboats, the Sennen Lifeboat, an Air Sea Rescue Helicopter from RNAS Culdrose, Coastguard teams and local fishing boats throughout the afternoon, with the helicopter being forced to return to base to re-fuel at one point.

As people were becoming more & more concerned for the safety of the divers as the afternoon drew on, the news that we had all been waiting for came in at around 5:00 pm after nearly 4 hours of searching, when the men were picked up by the Hayle based fishing boat Sarah Jane who had been searching for the divers. The divers, who had drifted approximately 6 miles in a westerly/northerly direction from their dive site, were then taken back to St Ives harbour to be re-united with the other two on their dive boat.

Talking to one of the divers (who were very experienced from the Plymouth/Launceston area) after their return, he stated that after launching from Hayle they had began diving the wreck at approximately 11:00 am. As the tide had turned they could feel the flow of the tide beginning to run so ended the dive early and came back to the surface. However when they surfaced into the large ground swell of that afternoon, they could not see the dive boat anywhere. With their 6 foot by 1 foot bright orange Surface Marker Bouy inflated to help those looking for them, they could do nothing more than wait to be found, using their fins to swim towards the land when they could. However as the afternoon wore on they started to become more concerned as they were being pushed further West and away from the land, and could see the helicopter searching further in to shore, at one point briefly seeing the Lifeboat. Seeing the Sarah Jane approaching after 5 hours alone at sea must have been a very welcome sight for them.

On returning to St Ives they had an emotional reunion with their fellow divers, who were becoming extremely concerned after the length of time they were missing, before giving the Coastguard and Lifeboat a de-brief of what had happened.

Picture attached, the St Ives Lifeboat returns with the two divers, a welcome sight for the others on their dive boat on the left.

St Ives Inshore Lifeboat Recovers Couple from Rocks

The St Ives Inshore Lifeboat Colin Bramley Parker was launched on Saturday afternoon 28th July 2007, to rescue a man who had become stuck on the rocks while walking/climbing with his partner between Porthminster and Carbis Bay.

The couple from Dorset who were taking a short break in St Ives, were making their way along the rocks from Porthminster towards Carbis Bay when, about a third of the way round, the man climbed up onto a group of rocks only to find that he could not make his way back down again.

Realising that he was not going to be able to make his way down safely, his partner made a 999 call to ask for help and with the tide rising, the St Ives Inshore Lifeboat was called out to rescue him.

The St Ives ILB was launched at 1:50 pm on Saturday Afternoon, with George Deacon at the helm and crewed by Barney Stevens and Crispian Jones. After making their way to the scene, the two crewmen were put ashore with a rope which was tied on to the rocks to help the casualty back down.

Both casualties were then taken back to St Ives harbour in the ILB, and as neither had sustained any injuries, they left after giving their details to the Coastguard and saying thank you to everyone involved.

St Ives Lifeboat Launched to recover Single Handed Yacht

The St Ives Lifeboat The Princess Royal was launched last night to try and recover a 20ft single handed yacht, after the sailor onboard was taken ill & airlifted off to hospital.

The Lifeboat was asked to launch and recover the yacht Lendur as the sailor onboard reported that he was suffering from heart problems, and was evacuated off the boat by a Search & Rescue helicopter from RNAS Culdrose and taken to Treliske Hospital.

The Lifeboat was launched shortly before 8:00pm on Tuesday evening 3 rd July, to search for and recover the yacht which was reported to be 35 miles North West of Cape Cornwall. Conditions on leaving St Ives were choppy, with force 4 westerley winds, however as they approached the area to search for the yacht, which was now unmanned and drifting, conditions became considerably worse. Westerly winds up to gale force 8 against the easterly running tide created huge waves, making the search for the small yacht in the dark extremely difficult. After searching the area for some time with no success, the decision was taken at approximately 11:30pm to call off the search, and the lifeboat made its way back to St Ives, returning at around 1:30 in the morning.

If They Hadn't Launched The ILB So Quickly, I Wouldn't Be Here

The St Ives Inshore Lifeboat Colin Bramley Parker & her crew made an emergency Self Launch Monday Afternoon (25 th June 2007), to rescue a local St Ives man who had gone out to try and bail out his boat in the harbour, saving him with just moments to spare as he fought against the weight of his waders full of water. He is certain that had the ILB been just a minute or so later, he would not be here to tell his story.

The situation unfolded on Monday Afternoon, as strong winds brought rough seas into the normally sheltered St Ives harbour, causing self hire boat owners to bring their boats ashore, and causing problems for other local boat owners. After hearing a report that his 17ft Dory Jonathan Seagull was filling with water, St Ives local Peter Thomas went down to the harbour to check on his boat to find that the report was true and his boat was getting lower & lower in the water. With the tide going out he made the decision that it would now be OK to wade out to his boat to see what was happening, and with chest waders on, made his way out to his floundering boat. Reaching the boat almost up to his neck in water, he found that the boat was in fact full to the gunnels, so made the decision to try & beach the boat before the engine was ruined. Undoing the mooring he tried to drag the boat into the harbour to the beach, however the strong wind and outgoing tide ended up dragging him and the boat out towards the sea. Holding on to the side he tried to get into the boat, cutting the cover straps and managing to get one leg into the port side of the boat, not realising the trouble he was getting into. It all went badly wrong when at this point, as a wave hit the starboard side of the boat and with him on the opposite side, the boat capsized throwing him into the water.

With his boat heading out to sea upside down, and with his chest waders full of water & dragging him down, he tried to get his coat off so he could release the wader shoulder straps, but with the waders stopping him from kicking to keep afloat, he just couldn't get the coat off. After trying to get his legs up out of the water unsuccessfully, he know that he was in real trouble as his waders did their best to pull him under, and he was well out of his depth by now. Seeing a man in a yellow coat on the shore he tried to wave for help, in the hope that someone would see him. Seeing another boat moored about 25 yards away, he gave it everything he had and just managed to swim over to the mooring, almost missing it because of the drag of the tide & waves. Wrapping one leg around the mooring rope all he could do was hang on against the pull of his waders, tired & exhausted, and rapidly running out of energy.

While all this had been going on, he was fortunate enough to have been seen by another local man from the shore, and luckily for him the onlooker was brother to St Ives Lifeboat Coxswain, and realising how bad the situation was decided to speed things up by ringing his brother directly. Taking the call and seeing that Peter Thomas was in such trouble, Coxswain Tommy Cocking made the decision that there was absolutely no time to lose, and ?self launched' the Inshore Lifeboat at 3:35pm, bypassing the usual route of going through the Coastguard to save what could be vital seconds.

Launching the ILB with Anthony McClary and the helm and crewed by Scott Perkin and as an emergency measure Tommy Cocking, the ILB sped straight to Peter who was struggling to hang on to the boat mooring, and pulled him into the ILB. The poor conditions in the harbour were demonstrated when even as they stopped at the West Pier steps, the waves were still big enough to break right over the ILB, drenching the casualty lying in the boat.

After taking Peter into the boathouse it was clear that he was suffering from shock and mild hypothermia, and he was quickly taken out of his wet clothes and dressed in an RNLI Thermal Undersuit (as worn by ILB crew under their drysuit) to keep warm, before being taken to Royal Cornwall Hospital by ambulance. After being checked over, Peter was released early that evening, returning home by around 8.00 pm.

Talking after the event, Peter said that if Tommy hadn't jumped straight into the ILB, he would not be here now, he felt that he only had another minute or so before exhaustion would beat him and the waders would drag him under. He said that it also helped him immensely when he saw Tommy coming towards him in the ILB, and from that moment on he know that he would be OK. He also made a point of thanking everyone who helped him that afternoon, those who helped retrieve his boat, the informant, and the ILB crew who saved him, as well as all the many locals who have asked him since if he is OK.

Just 2 days after it's naming ceremony, the St Ives Inshore Lifeboat was launched on Bank Holiday Monday, May 28 th 2007, to rescue a Father and Son stuck on rocks near Hawkes Point just off Porthkidney Sands, after they had become cut off by the rising tide.

Following a 999 call to the Coastguard reporting voices being heard calling for help, the St Ives Inshore Lifeboat Colin Bramley Parker was launched at 3:00 pm, with George Deacon at the helm, and crewed by Jonathan Harvey and new crewman Adam Barber out on his first shout. After locating the casualties, the ILB made it's way into the rocks, a task made much more difficult by the heavy swell caused by the fresh northerly winds of that afternoon. Both crewmen then jumped onto the rocks, with one holding the boat in close against the breakers, and the other assisting the casualties off the rocks. With the young boy being petrified by his situation, he came down off the rocks inch by inch before they were both put into the ILB and taken back through the surf into Porthkidney Sands.

Apart from being cold and frightened the young boy and his father did not need medical attention, other than being kept warm with an emergency blanket and being comforted by the ILB crew who stayed with them until the Mobile Coastguard Unit arrived.

Monday 21st May

St Ives Inshore Lifeboat Launched to Kite Surfers off Hayle Estuary

The St Ives Inshore lifeboat was launched this morning at 11:45 to rescue 2 kite surfers in trouble in the water at Hayle Estuary.

One of the kite surfers is believed to have got into difficulty while surfing in the estuary when his kite went into the water and he could not re-launch it again. As he was being swept out to sea by the tide, an instructor entered the water to assist him, but as the two men were still being swept out to see, someone raised the alarm with a 999 call to the Coastguard.

The St Ives Inshore Lifeboat was launched with Scott Perkin at the helm, and crewed by Richard Boon and Barney Stevens, and made their way to the scene and a waiting Search & Rescue Helicopter from RNAS Culdrose. The two casualties were then taken onboard the ILB, and were taken back to the beach along with the man's board and kite. Neither man required hospital treatment.

After walking the men back to the car park, the ILB crew then returned to St Ives. Although the new St Ives Inshore Lifeboat Colin Bramley Parker has been launched to a number of incidents, this is the first time that it has picked up casualties into the boat. This is also shared by new crewman Barney Stevens, as it is the first time since he joined recently that he has rescued casualties in the ILB.

The new St Ives ILB has had a busy build up to it's naming ceremony later this week, with this being the second launch in two days. The official naming ceremony for St Ives' new ILB Colin Bramley Parker takes place this Saturday, 26 th May at the St Ives Lifeboat Station Slipway at 1:30 pm.

20 May 2007

St Ives Inshore Lifeboat Launched to Kayaker in Carbis Bay

The St Ives Inshore lifeboat was launched on Sunday evening, 20 th May 2007, following a report that a Kayaker was in difficulty after falling out of his Kayak in Carbis Bay.

The ILB was launched at 8:30 pm, and made it's way to a man fishing out of a Kayak between Carbis Bay and Porthminster Point, however he reported that he was not in any difficulty. The ILB crew continued to search the area to ensure that there were no other Kayaker's in trouble, but returned to St Ives after it was confirmed that the Kayaker they had spoken to was the one the informant had seen. St Ives Lifeboat Press Officer Derek Hall

St Ives Lifeboat Launched to Fishing Boat on Hayle Bar

The St Ives Lifeboat was launched on Wednesday evening on 16 th May following reports that a 20ft Fishing Boat was in difficulty in the dangerous waters of Hayle Bar.

The St Ives Lifeboat The Princess Royal was launched at 7:50 pm and made it's way straight to the scene. However when the arrived, the Fishing Boat had run aground, and had been beached by the falling evening tide.

Being unable to assist the Fishing Boat any further that evening, the Lifeboat returned to St Ives. It is understood that the owners of the fishing boat, which may have run out of fuel, made their own arrangements to recover the boat. St Ives RNLI Lifeboat press officer Derek Hall

Sunday 13 May 2007

St Ives Lifeboats launched to Fishermen Fallen off Rocks

Both St Ives Lifeboats were launched early Sunday evening to two fishermen reported to be in the water and calling for help off the rocks near Zennor.

The incident occurred shortly before 18:00 when a man fishing from the rocks near Zennor fell into the sea, followed by a second man who went in to assist him (it is not know at this time how the first man ended up in the water).

Following a call from Falmouth Coastguard, the lifeboats were launched at 18:10, with Coxswain Tommy Cocking in charge of the ALB The Princess Royal , and Anthony McClary at the helm of the ILB Colin Bramley Parker .

Both boats made their way towards the scene, however they were stood down before they arrived as the men, who are believed to have managed to scramble on to the rocks, were winched from the scene by an Air Sea Rescue helicopter from RNAS Culdrose. The men were taken to Royal Cornwall Hospital at Truro, reportedly suffering from hypothermia.

As the lifeboats reached St Ives they were asked to return back to the scene at Zennor as there was a concern that one person was still not accounted for. However shortly afterwards it was then confirmed that all people were accounted for and the boats returned to St Ives harbour.

Tuesday 8th May 2007

The St Ives Inshore Lifeboat was launched this afternoon, Tuesday 8 th May 2007) to assist a woman in trouble on a Jetski off Bamaluz Beach , St Ives.

The woman found herself in difficulty after the jetski stopped working whilst at sea, and began to sink. The incident was noticed by the St Ives National Coastwatch Institute at the lookout on St Ives Island, and was reported to the Coastguard, who immediately called out the St Ives Inshore Lifeboat.

The St Ives ILB was launched shortly before 2:00 pm with Anthony McClary at the helm and crewed by Robert Cocking and George Deacon. On reaching the incident the woman was making her own way to safety of the beach and did not need any more assistance, so the ILB crew set about towing the jetski back to St Ives harbour, where they were joined by the woman's partner who took charge of the stricken jetski.

Two members of the ILB crew recover the jetski with the woman's partner (left) assisted on the shore by Crewman Scott Perkin and Tractor Driver Peter Tanner

A busy weekend for the St Ives Lifeboats began with some PR work before both lifeboats were launched at different times over this weekend.

Before the weekend began the crew were asked to assist in the BBC‘s Sea Sense campaign by taking part in interviews for BBC Radio Cornwall and BBC Spotlight at the St Ives Boathouse. After staging the preparations for a launch for the camera, they talked over some of the important messages in the sea sense campaign with BBC reporter Alex Full. The interviews will feature on Radio Cornwall from this week, and may feature in a BBC Spotlight feature in November.

On Friday the crews were called out twice to different incidents. First the Inshore Lifeboat was launched to a man in trouble in the water at Gwithian after he was swept out to sea towards Godrevy. The ILB was launched at 2.30pm with Robert Cocking at the helm, however in the end a Search & Rescue Helicopter picked up the casualty from the water and took him back to the beach at Gwithian.

The All Weather Lifeboat was launched to a separate incident in the early evening to help bring an injured man aboard a fishing boat ashore for medical attention.

The third launch of the weekend was on Sunday evening to assist a yacht in difficulty in the strong force 6-7 Easterly winds. The 40ft yacht the Golden Mean was sheltering from the winds near at Gwithian with 3 people on board, when they were forced to ask for assistance when they found that the yacht was dragging her anchor and had no power due to the engines overheating. The St Ives Lifeboat The Princess Royal was launched at 6:30 with Coxswain Tommy Cocking in charge, and put Second Coxswain Paul Whiston on board the yacht to assist them. After looking at the options available it was decided that with strong winds blowing directly into St Ives it would not be safe to bring the yacht into St Ives Harbour for the night, and so the yacht was towed closer towards Gwithian to give it more shelter from the winds so that it could wait out until morning to make repairs. With two anchors in place and holding the yacht, the Lifeboat returned to St Ives, after the River Class Offshore Patrol Vessel HMS Severn, which had just come into the bay for shelter, offered to keep watch on the yacht for the night.

The Lifeboat crew finally returned to St Ives at around 8:30 pm after spending 2 hours at sea in the strong easterly winds.

Following the joint exercise on Sunday morning, the The St Ives Lifeboat was launched again on Monday afternoon 9th October to search for a missing person East of Godrevy.

The St Ives Lifeboat The Princess Royal was launched at 16:50 with Coxswain Tommy Cocking in charge, and searched an area from Godrevy to Porthtowan.

The search was called off early that evening as nothing was found, and the boat returned to St Ives at 19:30.

At 8:30 Sunday morning 8^th October while many people were enjoying a well-deserved lie in or cup of tea in bed, the crew of the St Ives All Weather and Inshore Lifeboats and Sennen Cove Lifeboat launched to take part in a major realistic Search & Rescue Exercise coordinated by Falmouth Coastguard.

The training scenario began for them when they were informed at 8:15 that a Fisherman had been found at sea following the sudden sinking of a fishing boat with two people on board at 7:00 earlier that morning. With the second crewman still missing, the St Ives Lifeboats were launched at 8:30 to begin a search for the missing crewman, with Coxswain Tommy Cocking in charge of The Princess Royal´ and George Deacon at the helm if the Inshore Lifeboat. To enable a realistic search to take place, a life size and weighted dummy named ‘Fred’ had been taken out to the point where the boat was reported to have sank and dropped into the sea at 7:00 to drift away with the tide.

As the lifeboats began the search, the training also continued ashore as members of the local and national press called the St Ives Lifeboat House to ask for information about the situation, to help train the Lifeboat Press Officer and Operations Manager in what would happen in this situation.

With the three lifeboats undertaking a coordinated search taking account of the prevailing tides since the ‘casualty’ was lost, the missing Fred was found by the St Ives Lifeboat The Princess Royal in just 30 minutes, after being in the water for just under 3 hours. This brought an end to a very successful exercise, however there was an unexpected addition to the training on the return journey when the St Ives Lifeboat came across an Air Sea Helicopter from RNAS Culdrose which was also training in the area, giving the new helicopter pilot the opportunity to practice with the Lifeboat for some 20 minutes.

After being beaten back by 4-5 foot surf, a father was forced to watch helplessly as two of his children, a friend ‘s child and another friend who went in to help were swept away by rip tides off Hayle bar last Thursday. Fortunately for all concerned what could so easily have ended in tragedy was avoided as a surfer on holiday and three separate rescue services combined to find them all and pull them from the sea. The day after the harrowing event, the four casualties and their families came to St Ives to thank everyone concerned, and thank the St Ives Inshore Lifeboat Crew in person, giving them the opportunity to have their photo taken with members of the ILB crew, as well as the chance to tell us just what happened and how they felt about the events of the day before.

The families who were all on holiday together from Banbury in Oxon were enjoying the beach on Thursday afternoon (14^th September) at Hayle Towans, near Black Cliff which is the Hayle estuary end of the Towans. Brothers Ryan (11) and Scott (10) and their friend Zac (13) were playing with a body board just knee deep in the sea with the tide going out shortly after 2:30 pm when with no warning, the three of them were swept away by the force of the rip tide and three successive large waves. Robert, the father of the two brothers looked up to see the three boys strung out in the sea screaming for help in the 4-5 foot waves and tried to go in after them, however he was beaten back by the strong waves, and was forced to watch from the shore. Seeing what had happened a friend of theirs on holiday with them, Kevin Matthews (44) managed to get out through the surf to help them, but didn ‘t realise that he too would end up in trouble. Afterwards the boys said that they were petrified, with two of them only able to see each other occasionally when the waves allowed, and the third being totally alone in the sea.

As various people rushed to see what they could do, the first to enter the water to help them after Kevin was Mark, a visiting surfer from South Africa, who went out into the surf with his board to try to rescue them. As Kevin had reached Zac first he passed him on to the surfer who took him back to the shore so that Kevin could continue out to the next child. However with the strong currents of the mid tide, he said that when he approached the second child, Scott just went racing past him in the current and he could not get to him.

As the scene unfolded, the Coastguard tasked their own mobile unit, a nearby lifeguard on a Lifeguard Jetski, the St Ives Inshore Lifeboat and the Search & Rescue Helicopter from RNAS Culdrose to the scene, and the father of the boys remarked afterwards that he was amazed at how quickly they all arrived on the scene.

The second boy Scott was picked up by the surfer, while their friend Kevin who was by now exhausted, was helped out by the lifeguard on the jetski. However with three of them safe, there was now no sign of the third child Ryan. With the ILB on scene with Robert Cocking at the helm, & crewed by Scott Perkin and Dave Stamp, the ILB crew and the lifeguard began a search for the missing child, not helped by the large surf which was breaking into the ILB. With a person missing in the water in such a dangerous location, the ILB crew also called on the St Ives All Weather Lifeboat The Princess Royal to be launched to assist in the search, however moments later, the ILB crew and lifeguard both spotted Ryan at the same time approximately half a mile out to sea out from the mouth of the estuary, and went over to him before passing him to the winchman of the Air Sea Rescue helicopter to be taken ashore.

Two of the boys were taken to Treliske hospital by the Air Sea Rescue Helicopter, along with Kevin who had to be carried to the helicopter by the ILB crew as he was suffering from exhaustion after his efforts to rescue the boys. The third boy was taken to Treliske by ambulance. Although they were exhausted and suffering from hypothermia, there were no other injuries, and after being checked over and warmed up, they were all discharged later that afternoon.

While all this was going on, after being beaten back by the power of the waves, the boy ‘s father Robert could do nothing more than look on as his children were rescued. Afterwards he said that his mouth just went dry and at times his only thought was what their mother would say, wishing that it was him out there rather than them.

Realising how fortunate they were, the families concerned all passed on their thanks to the many people who helped them, from Kevin who risked himself to help the boys, the ILB crew, lifeguard and the visiting surfer, to the helicopter pilots, coastguards, and staff at Treliske who helped them. They were also very grateful to the way in which the people around them helped out in comforting the other members of the family and helping the boys when they were brought ashore.

Talking afterwards the boy‘s father Robert said that they had no idea that it was so potentially dangerous where they were and they could not see any signs to say that there were such dangerous rip tides. He said that had he seen signs saying this, they would not have been allowed to play there.

The St Ives All Weather Lifeboat The Princess Royal was launched this morning to assist a 32ft (approx) Fishing vessel Northern Lights which had suffered engine failure 5 miles North of St Agnes Head with 3 people on board.

The Lifeboat was launched at 10:45, with Coxswain Tommy Cocking in charge, reaching the Northern Lights at approximately 11:30 before towing the fishing vessel back to its home port of Newquay, approximately a 12 mile journey. After returning the Northern Lights to Newquay, the lifeboat then made its way back to St Ives, returning home after the 4 hour callout at 14:45. Unfortunately as the tide was then too high to recover the boat, she was moored in St Ives harbour until the evening when the crew will return to clean the boat down and recover her to the Boathouse.

The St Ives Lifeboats were called upon Tuesday afternoon 5^th September 2006 to assist a Yacht with engine failure which was unable to sail into St Ives harbour.

The owners of the 36 ft Yacht Meander had left The Scilly Islands that morning as part of a long journey returning to Shropshire from the Mediterranean where they had been living for some years. After suffering engine failure the yacht had continued under sail, however on nearing the Island they found themselves unable to make any further headway into St Ives.

After 3 hours of trying they finally had to call for help at around 5:00 pm, approximately 500 yards off The Island. With the yacht being so close to St Ives, the St Ives Inshore Lifeboat was launched to assist them, crewed by George Deacon, Dave Stamp and Robert Cocking. The Meander was then taken under tow for the short journey into St Ives harbour where she was left tied up to the Harbour wall to make repairs.

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