The bank holiday made this one of the busiest weekends of the year so far for the volunteer crews of the RNLI lifeboats and RNLI lifeguards. Mumbles lifeboat was one of many stations in action this weekend.
Both the inshore and all-weather lifeboats were called to Pwlldu on the Gower this weekend when a 30 ft powerboat was trapped.
Steve Ace, Mechanic for the all-weather boat, said: “Although it was a rising tide, a swell was washing the boat further in shore and, with little water for the all-weather lifeboat, the smaller inshore lifeboat was perfect to pass a tow rope to the stricken vessel.”
Two adults and three children were on board the casualty vessel, which was out for the afternoon from Swansea Marina.
Tim Conway, RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager at The Mumbles says: ‘The RNLI is a voluntary service which receives no government funding, we’re always grateful to the crews of our boats, and it was a very busy weekend in Mumbles with lots of holiday traffic in the area and we were still able to launch both boats within minutes. The casualty vessel was pulled to safe water within an hour of them arriving’.
The Mumbles lifeboat station hit the headlines last summer when it was put to task six times in 24 hours. In July this year the volunteer crews’ day started at 4.22 am and following the rescue of three boats and three calls for swimmers in the water ended at 1.20 am the next day with no casualties.
The RNLI has set a £150,000 fundraising target for the station over the next three years towards a new £2.7m Tamar class boat for Mumbles. The Tamar lifeboats are the most advanced vessels operated by the RNLI, providing all-weather rescue capabilities and will replace the Tyne class rescue boat that currently serves Mumbles.
