Busy weekend for RNLI Largs and Troon lifeboat call outs as hot weather scorches Scotland

Lifeboat volunteers were busy over the weekend responding to a number of incidents off the coast of Ayrshire.

Volunteers from Largs RNLI responded to their pagers twice on Saturday evening.

Largs lifeboat launched around 7pm after HM Coastguard received reports of a female paddleboarder being blown offshore near Seamill.

The team were quickly able to locate the casualty with the assistance of the coastguard, who had also been tasked to the incident and were on the shore line.

On arrival, the casualty was taken onboard the lifeboat and assessed by the volunteer crew. Cold and distressed, she was given initial casualty care by the crew and taken to the shore at Portencross.

The casualty explained she had fallen into the water and although she had managed to get back onto her paddleboard, she had lost her paddle in the process.

The lifeboat was met by the coastguard rescue team and the casualty was handed over into their care.

Largs lifeboat then returned to the lifeboat station at 9pm where it was cleaned, refuelled and made ready for service.

At 10:30pm, the volunteer crew pagers sounded for the second time when HM Coastguard requested Largs lifeboat be launched to a small inflatable boat which had experienced a mechanical failure and was drifting in Rothesay Bay.

As it was starting to get dark, HM Coastguard had concerns about the safety of the two people onboard.

Largs lifeboat proceeded to the area and located the vessel as the light continued to fade. On arrival, the volunteer helm on the lifeboat assessed the situation and deemed the safest option was to tow the vessel to Rothesay Harbour.

On arrival at Rothesay Harbour the lifeboat was met by the coastguard rescue team who assisted bringing the casualty vessel alongside.

At 12:45am, early on Sunday morning, Largs lifeboat returned to the lifeboat station and was again cleaned, refuelled and made ready for service.

John Griffiths, lifeboat operations manager at Largs RNLI, said: ‘If you are heading out onto the water this summer please make sure you check the weather and tides, be aware of offshore winds, have a suitable lifejacket or floatation device for your activity and always carry a suitable means of calling for assistance.

“If you get into difficulty, or spot someone else in trouble, always dial 999 and ask for the Coastguard.”

Meanwhile further down the coast, Troon RNLI’s all-weather lifeboat was requested to launch on Sunday night at 10.27pm to assist police and Ayr coastguard rescue team with a person in the water near to the Heads of Ayr.

The volunteer crew assembled and launched Trent class all-weather lifeboat RNLB Jim Moffat.

As the lifeboat was heading to the scene, Belfast Coastguard informed the crew that the lifeboat’s assistance was no longer required as the person was out of the water.

With this information, the all-weather lifeboat returned to station and was made ready for service with the assistance of the shore crew.