Girvan Lifeboat called to motorboat in difficulty

At 13:37 today Sunday 18th May, Girvan Lifeboat's volunteer Crew's pagers rang out around the town in a request to launch from Belfast Coastguard.

On arrival at the station, information received was a motorboat approx 4 miles off Girvan was experiencing mechanical difficulties and requested assistance.

The.crew quickly made their way out the jetty to the lifeboat and our Shannon Class all-weather lifeboat 'Elizabeth and Gertrude Allan' was soon off her moorings and making best speed out of the harbour towards the casualty.

Once on scene, one of our volunteer crew members went aboard the motorboat to assist, and although experiencing some mechanical difficulties the motorboat was able to make it's way back to Girvan under the escorted of the Lifeboat, and in this case a tow nor any further action was required by our crew.

The lifeboat stood by until the vessel was safely berthed where it was met by members of Girvan Coastguard and Ballantrae Coastguard.

Girvan lifeboat was then stood down and made ready for the next service call.

Duty Coxwain Alan Jeans said, in this instance the boat owner did all the right things, once they discovered a problem, they tried to fix it, not knowing if the temporary repair would last they contacted the Coastguard saying they were having difficulty, they had all the correct equipment to call for assistance and the correct P.P.E. fortunately the repair held and the vessel able to make its way back under its own steam, with us providing an escort incase of further issues, sometimes things happen that's out of your control and its better to be proactive and safe and call for help.

If you are in difficulty at sea or along our coast or believe someone else to be in difficulty dial 999 and ask for the Coastguard right away.

Further safety advice from the RNLI for anyone heading to sea on a yacht or motorboat can be found here https://rnli.org/safety/choose-your-activity/yacht-sailing-and-motorboating#

Key facts about the RNLI

The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.

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