Claire shares this news from yarmouth RNLI. Ed
At 1.39pm yesterday (Thursday), the volunteer crew from the RNLI’s Yarmouth station was tasked with attending a hovercraft that had begun to sink off The Needles.
Conditions in the western Solent were fair, with a calm sea state and good visibility, however one of four domestic hovercraft on an outing from Lee-on-Solent ran into trouble when it hit a rogue wave, which caused structural damage and subsequent loss of power.
Click on images to see larger versions
This resulted in the vessel taking on water and capsizing.
Upon arriving on scene the Yarmouth lifeboat retrieved one man overboard from the beach at Alum Bay, then proceeded around The Needles to Scratchell’s Bay to recover the capsized vessel.
Click on images to see larger versions
The lifeboat’s on-board inflatable (Y boat) was launched and two RNLI crew members went into the water to right the hovercraft, which was then craned aboard the Yarmouth lifeboat and recovered to Yarmouth Harbour.
Click on images to see larger versions
Image: © RNLI/Rob Scott
