The warm weather brought people out to enjoy the sunshine this weekend and also resulted in two call outs for Penarth’s volunteer lifeboat crew.
The first came just before 10.30pm on Saturday 21 July, when the larger of Penarth’s two lifeboats – the Atlantic 85 – was launched to go to the assistance of a 23 foot motor boat with three people on board. The motorboat had reported engine failure and told the Coastguard it was positioned close to Flat Holm Island.
Lifeboat helmsman Maldwyn Hopkin and his crew of Owain Davies, Geraint Williams and Matt Church finally located the broken down motorboat four miles off the coast of Barry, and towed it - along with its 3 occupants who were from the Llanrumney area of Cardiff - to the safety of Barry Harbour.
The second call of the weekend came at 9pm on Sunday 22 July, just as the crew were finishing a routine training exercise. The warm weather earlier in the day had brought out a large number of walkers, enjoying a stroll along the coast between Penarth and Lavernock Point.
Before returning to the lifeboat station, the lifeboat - helmed by trainee Owain Davies and crewed by Maldwyn Hopkin, Jon Russill and Matt Church - carried out a patrol of the coastline to make sure nobody had become stranded by the quickly rising tide. As they did so, they spotted a couple walking their dog half a mile south of Penarth. At this point, the shoreline between the walkers and Penarth was already flooded. The lifeboat crew approached the couple and explained the situation to them.
The couple were unaware of how quickly the tide had come in, and took the advice of the crew to join them in the lifeboat, along with their dog, to be transported quickly and safely to the slipway on Penarth beach.
Laurie Pavlin, RNLI Sea Safety Officer and Deputy Launching Authority for the Penarth lifeboats that night, said:
'There have been high tides this weekend which can easily catch people out. It’s important for walkers along the coast to be aware of how quickly the tide comes up in the Cardiff area.'
Media contact
For more information please telephone Claire Kingston, RNLI Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer on 07812 430234 or contact RNLI Public Relations on 01202 336789