Mersea lifeboat is set to record busiest-ever year
2:00pm Thursday 27th October 2011
LIFEBOAT crews in West Mersea are on course to log a record number of callouts.
The island’s RNLI team has been called out 70 times since January – the highest number in 15 years.
The current record is the 76 calls chalked up by the crew in 1996.
With just more than two months still to go, seven more calls would make it the busiest year in the lifeboat station’s 50-year history.
Callouts this year have included three occasions where the lifeboat crew was responsible for saving lives.
Most of the time, however, the 16-strong team of volunteers has been asked to help vessels which have run aground or suffered engine failure.
All the same, memorable launches have included an incident when a dinghy sank with three people on board in a bay in the River Blackwater.
The desperate trio had to hang on to a post for more than 90 minutes before they were spotted from the land and the alarm was raised.
RNLI boats are also often asked to ferry medics and other emergency services personnel across to Mersea when the causeway linking it to the mainland is covered at high tide.
RNLI volunteer Martin Wade said: “This year’s statistics can’t be attributed to anything in particular.
“We are near a record total and it’s nowhere near the end of the year. When we get a call, we never know if it is going to be serious or not.
“A couple of times this year, we have had cars stuck in the tide.
“The drivers are not in much danger, other than getting their feet wet! But one Sunday, we were called out and then called twice again before we could even get back to the station.”
Mr Wade has been with the RNLI for five years.
He is responsible for assessing each emergency and the conditions the crew faces before sending a team out on the water.
RNLI teams also launch twice a month on training exercises.
Volunteers are all first aid-trained and carry pagers to call them to the station when they are needed.
West Mersea RNLI is always keen to hear from people interested in becoming volunteers – ideally, it needs 30 to be up to full strength.
For more information, visit www.rnli.org.uk