Volunteer crew from Exmouth RNLI lifeboat station departed early on Friday 14 March for the RNLI all-weather lifeboat centre in Poole. Their journey to collect Exmouth;s RNLI’s Shannon class lifeboat, R & J Welburn, and return the David & Ruth Arthur lifeboat.
The R&J Welburn has been away in Poole for a few months for scheduled maintenance. After our volunteers collected her, she was put immediately back to work when, not long after departing Poole Harbour, H.M Coastguard requested that Exmouth RNLI volunteer crew assist volunteer lifeboat colleagues from Poole Lifeboat station in a search for a missing kayaker.
Fortunately, the missing kayaker was quickly located and taken to safety by the Poole lifeboat volunteers. The kayaker was cold and wet from their ordeal, but otherwise unharmed.
The Exmouth RNLI volunteers were therefore stood down and continued with their passage back to Exmouth, arriving just after 5.30pm.
The R&J Welburn will head off to the all-weather lifeboat centre in Poole again in the summer to have the names of many people’s loved ones added to the decals on the bow and roof as part of the RNLI’s Launch a Memory campaign. In the meantime, the volunteers of Exmouth RNLI and its supporters are pleased to have her back at the boathouse and ready to save lives at sea.
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