Not all Incident Work is Straightforward

Sometimes, Coastguarding isn't as straightforward as it could be, and some things just don't add up.  Take the incident from Sunday when three men were rescued from a yacht in Studland, having capsized out of their overloaded dinghy.

It's 4.35pm and the pager goes off.  

A member of public has seen a white dinghy in Studland Bay overloaded with three men on it.  When he next looks, he can still see the dinghy but the three men have come out of it and are in the water, struggling.  He calls the Coastguard on 999.  The men manage to swim to a nearby yacht and climb aboard.  There is nobody else on it, but it's lucky the yacht is there as without it there is a real risk to life.  It is raining, with high winds and the men are not equipped to be in the water.

Swanage Coastguard and Swanage Lifeboat attend.  The lifeboat spots the empty dinghy matching the first informant's description and then spots the three men waving from the yacht. It collects them and on seeing their condition takes them immediately to waiting ambulances and to the Coastguard team on the shore.  The men are drunk and explain that they were camping on the beach for the weekend and had decided to go fishing.  

They explain how they had bought an inflatable dinghy to go fishing and how it had capsized when they were on it.    The dinghy that the member of public saw isn't inflatable and neither is the dinghy that the lifeboat spotted. 

The Coastguard team collects the men's belongings from the beach for safe storage and there is no sign of an inflatable - no pump, no bag etc. 

Fast forward to Monday and the three men from Sunday return to collect their belongings.  The mystery of the inflatable vs fibre glass dinghy is explained to them, and the risk that further search and rescue assets could be deployed if a dinghy other than their inflatable is located. They confirm they were in a white inflatable dinghy with a black line around it.   We have to take their word. 

Monday evening and the rig support vessel in Poole bay picks up a white fibre glass dinghy with a blue inside. It fits the description of the boat that the member of public had seen in trouble the day before and it has a fishing rod and a bait bucket in it.  Surely this must be connected to the incident on Sunday? We ring them and again they say no. 

We then start several hours of enquiries as there is now concern that in fact someone else is missing, we decide to trace the owner of the boat through Social Media and at the same time deploy a team to investigate. 

Very soon the owner is identified in Studland - he is indoors and not using the boat today.  His description is spot on, but he hasn't left any fishing gear in it.  Additionally the boat had been left near to his beach hut protected by a secure fence. Should we commence a further search using several Coastguard teams a helicopter and Lifeboats?

We review the facts with our colleagues in the National  Maritime Operations Centre and with no other person being reported missing the team is stood down after a combined total of 20 extras hours of enquiries. 

The inflatable still hasn't been found and the Police are now investigating damage to the fence , the mystery of how the dinghy got moved to the water and had fishing equipment in it remains.