Sharp-eyed Fleetwood Coastwatch team help save beach walker 'chest deep' in water

Sharp-eyed volunteers with National Coastwatch at Fleetwood raised the alarm about a walker on the beach – saving her as the sea engulfed her in minutes.
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The woman was walking out on a sandbank more than a mile from the shore near the Marine Hall yesterday (August 15), with the tide coming in fast, a worrying situation which often catches walkers unawares.

Sue Wolstenholme, along with fellow volunteers Ken Harcombe and Mike Bamforth, had no hesitation in contacting HM Coastguard at Holyhead for assistance.

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Sue, from Stalmine, who has been a volunteer at the Rossall Point tower since 2015, used the training she’d received and helped the Coastguard by giving the direction and distance from shore of the casualty.

Fleetwood Coastwatch volunteers, based at  Rossall Point observation Tower, helped rescue a walker.Fleetwood Coastwatch volunteers, based at  Rossall Point observation Tower, helped rescue a walker.
Fleetwood Coastwatch volunteers, based at Rossall Point observation Tower, helped rescue a walker.
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The Coastguard requested Fleetwood RNLI to launch immediately and the inshore lifeboat ‘Harbet’ quickly arrived on scene.

The female casualty was by now surrounded by the fast-flowing tide and chest deep in water.

She was collected by the volunteer lifeboat crew and returned to shore, none the worse for her ordeal and extremely grateful.

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The Coastwatch team use an array of state-of-art equipment to scan the coast to ensure no one is in trouble on the shore or out to sea, and they work closely with the RNLI and Coastguards.

Coxswain Daryl Randles at Fleetwood RNLI said: “It was lucky the lady was spotted by the volunteers at Coastwatch.

"She would have had a big problem if she hadn’t been picked up by our lifeboat when she was.

"We thank Coastwatch for their help in keeping our shores safe.”

For further details of National Coastwatch at Fleetwood, go to: www.ncifleetwood.co.uk.

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