Dart RNLI had a busy weekend as the spring weather bought more people out onto the water. Last Sunday (March 20) teams attended two serious incidents.

The first incident involved two brothers in their early 60’s who’d come down to Dartmouth from North Somerset, to take their boat out.

Sophie Rennie, of Dart RNLI, said: “On returning to the pontoon one of them slipped and fell on the throttle, pushing it into fast forwards. The boat lurched forwards into the jetty and the other brother fell face first into the boat splitting his lip and suffering a head injury. He also lost his mobile phone over the side.”

Sophie said there was no chance of an ambulance recovery, so the casualties were taken back to the lifeboat station where they were monitored by RNLI and Coastguard volunteers.

She added: “They were then taken back to their car so that they could drive themselves to hospital for a check-up.

“Both RNLI boats were launched as they needed to recover the casualties onto the D-Class from the B-Class so they could be transferred to the lifeboat station.”

The second shout of the day was to three local kayakers in danger at Pudcombe Bay

Sophie said: “The kayakers got round to Pudcombe Bay where the strong easterly swell sent them up to the beach. One of the kayakers could not paddle against the swell and quickly became cold and tired and also suffered a couple of capsizes. The other two radioed for the RNLI to come to their assistance.”

Unfortunately, she said, the RNLI couldn’t get into the beach to recover the casualty and the kayak, so the Search and Rescue Helicopter was called to assist.

She added: “The casualty was winched to safety and the other two kayakers made their way out to the waiting RNLI B-Class who gave them a lift back to Dartmouth. The kayak on the beach will be recovered once the weather settles. Even experienced paddlers can get caught out!”