Teenagers rescued on stormy seas
Gale-force winds meant 11 teenagers had to be rescued in
high seas while they were on a sailing lesson.
The winds caused some of the 11 dinghies involved to overturn in
the incident a mile off Sunderland harbour. The two girls and nine
boys, training with Sunderland Yacht Club, were believed to be aged
13 to 16.
Such outings in winter conditions emphasise the need for safety
precautions and boat insurance cover.
Two boats with volunteer crews were launched from Sunderland
RNLI Lifeboat Station to the incident last Saturday at 12.30pm. The
club launched its own boats to help but called for extra support
due to the amount of boats needing assistance and the roughness of
the weather.
Sunderland RNLI's senior helmsman Paul Nicholson warned: "It is
important for all sailing clubs to have well-practised emergency
plans to ensure that any escalating incident can be dealt with
effectively."
He said the two RNLI boats were launched in around 10 minutes
and the whole incident lasted an hour at most after notification,
adding: "The longest part was trying to account for everyone
because we couldn't get a final head count until everybody was back
on shore."
Copyright Press Association 2012 - Chris Gibbings
