Mayday shout in July

On Sunday 15th July 2018, after a busy (and hot) morning of base and boat crew training, the crew received a call out.
Around 3.15 pm a “mayday” call was received, initially with the position of Dymchurch. After some uncertainty about reported position, the “mayday”  was given out again, this time picked up by the Fairlight aerial and coastguards.
As this is close to us, crew were put on standby, especially as many were still at the boathouse undertaking additional repairs to equipment. Several other crew members who had already left after training also returned to the base after receiving the initial alert.
After being stood down by Dover, and closing up the boathouse, the call then came through from the coastguards, requesting launch from the PLIRB.
Tornado boat (archive image, not from the day).
With launch and base crew support, the Tornado boat launched with 3 crew members on board, and searched along the coastline to the unused Fairlight coastguard station. Nothing out of the ordinary was identified and the crew returned safely and were then stood down.
The coastguard helicopter was also in attendance, first along at the Rye end of the area, then back along to Pett and Fairlight.
For information about our other call-outs, please check out our SHOUTS page.