Half of RNLI launches for leisure craft
St Catherine’s lifeboat crew helps a grounded French boat – photo: RNLI
LIFEBOATS: Some 51% of lifeboat launches were to leisure craft in 2011, says the RNLI. Launches to sailboats rose from 1,481 in 2010 to 1,557, and launches to manual leisure craft were up from 974 to 1,070 in 2011.
But launches to powered leisure craft fell from 2,178 in 2010 to 1,934 in 2011, a decrease of 11%. Machinery failure was the most common cause for rescue, with 1,641 of all launches responding to vessels with mechanical problems.
In all, RNLI lifeboats launched 8,905 times, rescuing 7,976 people in 2011. This, says the RNLI made 2011 the second busiest for launches.
The 4,800 dedicated lifeboat crew – 95% of whom volunteer their time to the charity – spent a collective 203,000 hours at sea and are on call 24/7.
“Our lifeboat volunteers and lifeguards have once again demonstrated their dedication to saving lives at sea,” said RNLI operations director, Michael Vlasto. “But they wouldn’t be able to save lives without the incredible generosity of the public. I would like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to all those who support the RNLI, by volunteering their time or by making a donation – our charity receives less than 2% of its income from government sources, so we absolutely depend on the support of the public.”
April 2011 was the busiest April ever in RNLI lifeboat history with lifeboat launches that month almost doubling to 1,029 when compared to 672 in 2010. The number of people rescued was 1,038 – a 74% increase on the previous April. Not surprising when April 2011 was the warmest April in the UK for 100 years.
RNLI lifeboat launch figures were also high in January, October and November as these too became record months for the RNLI. January saw a total of 346 lifeboat launches, up over 15% on 2010, October 709, up 14%, and November 401 up over 14%.
Images for this article - click to enlarge
Unless otherwise stated, all images copyright © Mercator Media 2012. This does not exclude the owner's assertion of copyright over the material.
