Cowes lifeboat rescue after mid-Solent cricket match

The journey home from the UK’s weirdest cricket match ended with eight people and a dog needing the assistance of Cowes RNLI lifeboat.

On Monday evening, 17 September, the group were all aboard an eight-metre RIB which had been returning to Cowes after taking advantage of an exceptionally low spring tide to attend a fun cricket match on a sand bank in mid-Solent . But when off Old Castle Point, East Cowes the craft broke down when its engine over-heated, and the crew reported their plight to Solent Coastguards.

Luckily Cowes lifeboat had also been one of the many craft attending the cricket match, staged on Bramble Bank, and lost no time responding to the alert. When it caught up with the now-drifting RIB a tow-rope was taken aboard by crew-member Heather Lambden and it was eventually delivered to the Island Sailing Club pontoon.

Richard O'Callaghan, helm of the lifeboat, said they had gone to the match to help provide safety cover to the 50-plus boats at the sand bank. It had remained on the scene until they were satisfied everyone had got away without any problem.

The cricket match, between representatives of sailing clubs at Cowes and Hamble, proved even more testing than usual, with the wind ensuring the sand was not so exposed on this occasion.