At 14:04 Falmouth Coastguard requested that Falmouth Inshore Lifeboat be launched following a 999 call from a member of the public reporting what was believed to be a capsized Hobie Cat off St Mawes Harbour, which was reported to be drifting towards the Percuil River.

The Inshore Lifeboat launched from her slipway at 14:10 and arrived off St Mawes Castle at 14:16. A high performance sailing dinghy was spotted off Carricknath Point, but it was decided to continue to the position of the original sighting. There was no sign of the Hobie Cat, and the crew spoke to a local fisherman on his boat and the skipper of a Folkboat sailing nearby whom both said that they had only seen the one dinghy in the area, the fisherman confirming that it had been seen to capsize at one stage.

The inshore lifeboat then proceeded out to the RS800 Dinghy whose crew confirmed that they had capsized near the harbour but had righted the dinghy and was certainly not in need of any assistance. Having passed this information to the Coastguard, the inshore lifeboat was requested to do a final check of the Percuil River before at 14:32 being released to return to station.

The Inshore Lifeboat was back on its slipway by 14:55 where it was refuelled, rehoused and was ready for service by 15:10.

It appears that the crew of RS 800 had capsized off the Harbour but had righted their dinghy without any difficulty and had continued their sailing unaware that they had been reported as being in trouble by the member of the public who had been rightly concerned for their well being.

An Inshore Lifeboat Service