Rye Harbour RNLI Lifeboat was launched at 4.30 pm on 11 April to the aid of 35 foot Rye fishing vessel ‘Vic Anna’, suffering engine problems in rough water off Rye Harbour.
Whilst the Lifeboat was making its way through choppy to rough seas, the skipper of ‘Vic Anna’ reported to Dover Coastguard that they had deployed their anchor – which wasn’t holding and they were drifting towards shore off Galloway’s Tower.
By 5 pm. the Rye Harbour Lifeboat had the ‘Vic Anna’ in tow and returned her to her moorings at the Fish Market at Rye. Lifeboat B727 was back on station at 6.25 pm.
Tony Edwards, RNLI Lifeboat DLA (Deputy Launching Authority) at Rye Harbour said: ‘It was a text book launch. The crew were paged at 4.22pm and the Lifeboat was on its way eight minutes later. The regular crew training was definitely put to good use in today’s rough sea’.
The RNLI offers sea safety advice to fishermen and sailors. More information is available at www.rnli.org.uk/seasafety.’
The rescue of the ‘Vic Anna’ was almost a copy cat call out as one the previous month, when the Rye Harbour RNLI Lifeboat launched at 4.20 pm on Sunday 16 March 2008, after being requested by Dover Coastguard to assist a 21ft Fishing Vessel ‘Moon Raker’ suffering machinery failure in the harbour entrance.
The Lifeboat arrived at the casualty at 4.23 pm, where the two man crew had managed to restart the engine. With the Lifeboat escorting them, the fishing vessel made it’s own way into port.
The lifeboat returned to station at 4.38 pm and was ready for service at 5pm. Richard Tollett, RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager at Rye Harbour explained that: ‘This may seem a routine problem to us, but if you are the captain suffering the engine failure then it is a very real problem to you’
‘Boat owners can find out more about sea safety at the RNLI website: www.rnliseasafety.org.uk.’