Two speedboats were rescued within the space of ten minutes in Burnham-On-Sea on Sunday evening (May 1st) after they both got into difficulty.
Burnham’s lifeboat and Coastguards were called to help the first speedboat, which encountered engine problems.
It was successfully towed back to the shore by the RNLI’s Staines Whitfield lifeboat.
And in the second incident, a jet skier managed to tow another boat to safety, as pictured here, after it too suffered technical problems.
Jet skier Mike Owen, from Burnham, towed the boat to safety after the owner, from Rooksbridge, lost power and began drifting along the estuary. Both incidents unfolded within ten minutes of each other in Bridgwater Bay at 5.45pm.
The first boat, an 18 foot speedboat, was apparently trialling a new engine with only six hours on the clock when it developed an electrical fault.
Burnham lifeboat station spokesman Mike Lang told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “This reinforces the fact that mechanical failure can happen at any time, as the same speed boat had apparently been assisted by a jet skier last Thursday.”
“This might be a good time to remind boat owners about the RNLI’s free sea safety check service, which is carried out confidentially, on a one-to-one basis by specially trained lifeboat sea safety advisers.”
The RNLI helped to rescue this speedboat in the first incident
… and this jet skier pulled a second speedboat to safety at the same time
