A lifeboat “rescue”

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32715, 18 September 1971, Page 16

A lifeboat “rescue”

Sir,*—About 430 pun. on Saturday, the lifeboat siren was sounded In Sumner. At 4.46 pjn. the members of the lifeboat crew were still trying to launch the jet rescue craft Cranleigh Barton. After appearing to get this craft jammed on the end of the slipway and then experiencing difficulty in starting it, the crew eventually got it under way and moved it to

an adjoining slipway. The time was then about 5 p>m. The lifeboat started to appear from the shed and was Inched down the slipway at an incredibly slow rate, eventually coming to a stop with the stem some 12 inches from the water. The boat was semi-launched, and then there was some manoeuvring between the boat and a large pile in the water before the remainder of the crew boarded and the boat put to sea. This eventually occurred about one hour after the siren was first sounded. J learn from news reports that the craft in distress—a 22ft cabin cruiser—was eventually taken in tow by a Lyttelton boat.—Yours, etc., INCENSED. September 13, 1971.

[Mr W. J. Baguley, Honorary secretary of the Sumner Lifeboat Institution, repliea: "The institution received a message from the police at 4.35 p.m. to assist a launch in difficulties off Godley Head. The siren was sounded at 4.37 pjn. and the volunteer crew divided into two groups, one group to clear the Cranleigh Barton from the slipway and the other engaged in launching Rescue 111. Because of the lowness of the tide (one hour after low tide) and the fact that the jet-boat trailer was made fast to the boat to enable the unit to be towed up on to the roadway, tome difficulty was experienced in clearing the end of the slip due to the surge of the sea. The jet-boat engine was running all the time. At the same time Rescue 111 was being winched into the water (due to a technical problem associated with the slipway rollers; this has now been overcome). This has been a slow and laborious process but bnly of a temporary nature. Rescue 111 was launched and cleared the breakwater en route to the casualty at 5 p.m. Rescue 111 met the pilot launch Wairangi and the distressed launch at approximately 5.30 p.m. and the two craft escorted. the launch inside Godley Head, where Rescue HI returned to Sumner and the Waitangi continued the escort to Lyttelton Harbour. We appreciate ‘lncensed’s’ concern for our problems, most of which can be overcome with improved finance.”]