This in from Michaela at Ryde Inshore Rescue, in her own words. Ed
The crew of Ryde Inshore Rescue have had a weekend that has never been seen before.
As widely reported Peter Andre arrived on the doorstep (literally) at 9am on Thursday morning with his team of people to raise money, create more space and address the roof issue that has been plaguing the unit for a few years.
The weekend, which the crew already knew was going to be a busy one suddenly, became even more hectic with his arrival, but under the limelight the crew worked considerably well.
12 incidents in 24 hours
The worries that all the extra people on station may detract the crew for their duties were proved unfounded when Ryde Inshore Rescue were tasked a staggering 12 times within the 24 hours over the weekend.
Eight of these incidents were from Round the Island Race and the clean up afterwards, meaning that Ryde Rescue 1 was afloat for nine hours continuously on Saturday from Midday until 2100hrs, when they finally reverted back to pager.
Engine failure in the fog
Unfortunately it didn’t stay quiet for long and at just gone 0700hrs on Sunday morning, the pagers went off again to assist a Shetland boat with engine failure, lost in the fog North of Ryde Pier.
They were assisted back to Ryde Harbour and throughout the day, there were a further three callouts to similar incidents of vessels lost in the fog and another vessel who ran aground by Kings Quay in Osborne Bay.
The weekend has been truly amazing for everyone involved at Ryde Rescue and I would personally like to thank my crew who have been stretched to their limits all weekend, as well as their families who have helped out.
Also a big thanks has to go to the whole Island for showing their support by volunteering their time to help fix the building or donating materials, goods or raffle prizes!
