A lifeboat crew in Kent will receive another award to mark an outstanding service during which two people were rescued.
The Whitstable Atlantic 75 will be given the Walter and Elizabeth Groombridge Award to mark the crew’s performance on 4 September 2009 when they launched in rough seas to rescue a couple from a yacht.
This is the second award in recognition of the crew’s role in the dramatic rescue. The yacht’s skipper was washed overboard and he was tethered by lifelines while his wife remained on the yacht. The skipper was unable to get back onto his yacht Esprit and Whitstable’s inshore lifeboat launched in a force 7 wind.
Helmsman Jonathan Carter had to avoid crushing the man between the lifeboat and the yacht while Tony Martin, a lifeboat crew member, was transferred onboard the yacht. The skipper required urgent hospital treatment. He was wrapped in a thermal pouch, given oxygen, and the lifeboat brought him to shore, leaving his wife and yacht at sea.
The Whitstable lifeboat launched again to take the woman off the yacht, and the Sheerness Trent class lifeboat towed in the yacht. The RNLI was involved in the emergency for five hours.
Mike Judge, the Lifeboat Operations Manager at Whitstable, said: ‘Noone is in the RNLI to get an award. That is not why the crew turn out of their beds in the middle of the night or down tools during the day and run down the street.
‘That is the last thing on their mind. However, when the dust has settled after a very intense period of pressure on a shout, it is nice to reflect and to be recognised for that work.’
Jonathan has already been accorded the Thanks of the Institution on Vellum, the fourth most senior award in the RNLI, for his role. Crew members Tony Martin, Henry Thomson and Martin Easton received a Vellum Service Certificate and Mike received a letter of appreciation.
The Walter and Elizabeth Groombridge Award was established in 1988 to be made for the most meritorious service performed by the crew of an Atlantic 21, a lifeboat now superseded by newer models.
The Award comprises a pair of inscribed binoculars for Jonathan, framed certificates for each member of crew involved in the service, and a certificate for display in the boathouse.
Author: Richard Smith, Divisional Media Relations Manager/RNLI
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