Both Tenby RNLI lifeboats were launched after a fishing vessel picked up a kayak off Tenby’s south beach with nobody on it.
Subsequent enquiries by the coastguard found tracks leading from the beach entrance to Kiln Park down to the water’s edge, from what appeared to be a trolley-type apparatus. The trolley was then found just above the high water mark and due to the tracks still being visible; it meant they were made after high tide the previous night.
This led coastguards to believe that a person may be in the water. The lifeboats raced to the scene, with the all-weather lifeboat tasked to perform a search between Tenby and Worms Head and the inshore lifeboat searching the coastline between Lydstep and Monkstone Point.
The lifeboats were soon joined by coastguard shore teams and the RAF helicopter Rescue 169. In the meantime, police and coastguard teams had made contact with the owner of the kayak, who confirmed that it had been stolen in the early hours of the morning.
Some two hours later, a paddle, which was confirmed to be from the kayak, was found floating off Castle Beach. The search continued for over an hour longer but, with the search area having been saturated with assets and with nobody being reported missing, all units were stood down and the search was suspended pending further information from ashore.
