Free! Over 2,000 Isle of Wight children, to be being given opportunity this summer to learn vital life-saving skills aimed at keeping them safe in the water.
An event marking the 30th anniversary of the creation of the Cowes independent lifeboat service and the 10th anniversary of the replacement RNLI operation took place last weekend.
Two men said they'd been lent the canoe by a man in a pub and had been using sticks instead of paddles. They claimed they'd ended up aground because of the unwelcome attentions of a seal!
Cowes sailer, Adam James, has swapped life on the Isle of Wight to be coxswain for the most northerly lifeboat in the RNLI with some of the toughest weather conditions, Aith, Shetland.
A collection of eight lifeboats, both RNLI and independent, gathered in Cowes from all parts of the Solent area on Saturday for an annual get together.