St.Agnes RNLI Lifeboat has a hatrick of calls in one day, on Easter Sunday.

Lifeboats News Release

The St.Agnes RNLI Lifeboat has attend five incidents in three call outs on just one day.

St.Agnes RNLI Lifeboat Landing.

Sarah Bunt

Stock Photo of St.Agnes RNLI Lifeboat

The first launch was at 1425hrs on Easter Sunday 2019, was to a report of two surfers caught in the rip tide, to the East of Chapel Porth.

The crew of Gavin Forehead, Helm, Paul Fisher and Trev Garland as Crew proceeded to Chapel Porth.

On arrival in the area the Lifeboat conducted a shoreline search, ran through the surf a couple of times but did not discover anyone in distress.

The Lifeboat crew informed the MRCC at Falmouth and were requested to stand by as there was another incident near their location, at Porthtowan.

The Lifeboat proceeded towards Porthtowan and spotted the Lifeguards with a casualty who had a suspected spinal injury.
The Lifeboat landed on Porthtowan Beach and the two crew proceeded to assist the Lifeguards, one crew member communicated and liaised with the approaching HM Coastguard Helicopter and the other took oxygen and first aid kit to the awaiting Lifeguards. The lifeguards had the incident in hand and helicopter was on scene within two mins of the Lifeboat arriving.
All hands assisted with carrying the stretcher onto the helicopter.

As the Lifeboat left the scene they were requested to perform as tide line search for any potential walkers on the beaches, who may become cut off by the tide and it was rapidly coming in and the Lifeguards were busy with the other casualty. The Lifeboat performed a close in shore transit, on it’s way back to base.

As they reached Chapel Porth, they observed that there were a few people who seemed unaware of the incoming tide, but not in immediate danger however one lady was happily strolling Eastward, towards Tubbys Head, in the opposite direction to the beach she could escape the incoming tide from, and didn't realise that she would have been cut off very quickly in that location. The lady was informed of the potential danger and she was passed to Laura Penhaul, an off duty crew member of the St.Agnes RNLI Lifeboat, who was on that beach, she walked the lady back to safety, and proceeded to warn others as she did so. Laura then stayed in the area to advise others not to proceed around from the beach outcrops.
The Lifeboat proceeded back to Trevaunance Cove, St.Agnes and was rehoused by 1600hrs.

At 1621hrs, the Lifeboat Crew were paged again, with Paul Fisher, Helm, Ed Schwarz and Laura Penhaul, Crew, to a report of a male with a potentially broken limb in the vicinity of Portreath, the St Ives RNLI Lifeboat were also proceeding as they had just left an incident at Godrevey. The St.Ives RNLI Lifeboat arrived on scene first and dealt with the casualty, our Lifeboat was stood down, as just passed Porthtowan.

The Lifeboat returned to station and was rehoused by 1730hrs.

A further call came in within half an hour. At 1754hrs the Lifeboat launched with Gavin Forehead, Helm, Paul Fisher and Tom Forehead, Crew, to a report of surfers caught in a rip tide and being pushed into a cave to the West of Portreath.

Fortunately the casualties managed to get themselves out of difficulty, and this was confirmed by the H. M. Coastguard Portreath Rescue Team.

The Lifeboat turned around and started to head back to station. As they were proceeding, the MRCC at Falmouth informed them that they were taking a 999 call for an incident in Perranporth, so the Lifeboat then proceeded straight to Perranporth whilst on route they were briefed it was for nine people stuck on Chapel Rock.

When they arrived on scene, they discovered there were twelve young teenagers approx. 12-14 years old.

The teenagers said they were “ok” however they didn't realise how much the sea had picked up since they had made their way out there, so Tom Forehead, Crew, was dropped onto the rock, to have a chat with them.
There as there was a swell around the rock, and an awkward surge of waves that could have caught the boat and led to difficulties. As there was still only a couple of hundred yards back to shore, the Lifeboat Crew got the first three to swim themselves in whilst they followed them in the boat, where the St Agnes Coastguard Search & Rescue Team, were awaiting, to give them advise and ensure their safety.

The remaining nine, having seen there friends make it to shore and realising they were in more of a potentially dangerous situation than they realised decided that they would rather be taken back ashore in the Lifeboat.
Tom Forehead remained on the rock, to keep the remaining casualties out of harms way, at a higher point on the rock, as waves were starting to break over the lower area by this point.
Tom and Paul assessed how many to transfer safety at a time and decided to take groups of three in between the sets of waves coming through.

All of the teenagers were successfully transferred to the beach at Perranporth, where they were taken into the supervision of the awaiting HM Coastguard Team.

The Lifeboat returned to station and was rehoused by 1900hrs.

For each of the call outs there was a support team of Shore Crew to assist with the launching and recovery. These consist of various grades, and without them, the lifeboat could not have been launched and recovered safely.
The team on shore included Lloyd Stein (Crew) Tom Knight (Crew), Graham Slater (DLA), Bruce Baker (Joint LOM), Rich Llewellyn (DLA), Keith Swain (Tractor and Shore Crew), Iona Fisher (Crew), Lucie McNeil (Crew).

This is believed to be the first time on record that the St.Agnes RNLI Lifeboat has attended three incidents on Easter Sunday, let alone five incidents, and a timely reminder to all local residents and visitors to our beaches to take note of the Tide Times and be extremely aware of your surroundings, when having a day at the beach, as there can be many hidden dangers associated to the natural landscapes and tides.

For further information about beach safety and Tide times, please go to to the following information pages on the RNLI website.

General Beach Safety:


RNLI/Dan Sedgewick

St Agnes Lifeboat underway

RNLI/Dan Sedgewick

Crew member o the shore

RNLI/Dan Sedgewick

St Agnes Lifeboat in action

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