Penarth’s new lifeboat saw more action last mon th, when on March 30 the RNLI crew was alerted to reports of a man who had gone into the sea to rescue his dog, whilst out walking along Lavernock Point.
The brand new Atlantic 75 was launched at around 6pm, helmed by Karl Lawrence and crewed by Owain Davies, Ben Reynolds and James Sidford, whilst the smaller D class boat launched immediately after, helmed by Aran Pitter and crewed by Mark Bow and Jen Payne.
The Coastguard and Rescue helicopter also joined the search for the missing man, who was eventually spotted, along with his dog, at St Mary’s Well Bay, about a third of the way up the side of the cliff. The lifeboat crews on both boats stood by, to ensure that the man remained safe and watched whilst the Rescue 169 helicopter started to winch the man and his dog from the cliff.
High winds and the very high spring tide caused breaking seas to reach the foot of the cliff and the man, dog and winch man were all being hit by the waves. After several attempts, the helicopter finally winched the man and the dog from the cliff and landed them on the cliff top by the caravan park.
Once the lifeboat crew had been assured that the man was safe and well, and was being cared for by the Coastguard, they returned to the slip way off Penarth Beach, only to discover that the very high tide and the large swell of the sea, had made it impossible to use the slipway to return both boats to the lifeboat station. Both crews waited at Cardiff Bay Barrage for more than an hour before they could land at the slipway and be recovered by the lifeboat shore crew.
Helm of the Atlantic 85, Karl Lawrence, said:
“If a recovery of the gentleman by air had not been possible, then the lifeboat would have been able to anchor off St Mary’s Well Bay, pick the casualty up and, because of the challenging sea conditions, would have transported him on a somewhat rough and wet ride to the Cardiff Barrage”.
