Call outs to two capsized vessels
15/08/11 17:01
The charity’s volunteer crew members responded to an alert from Aberdeen Coastguard at 2.53pm on Friday 12 August after they had received a 999 call reporting a capsized sailing dinghy with persons in the water near the southern shore of the loch, opposite Urquhart Castle.
John Minshull, skipper of the Deep Scan​ research and tourist vessel, spotted two sailors sitting on top of the upturned dinghy and stood by until the lifeboat arrived on scene.
The pair, on holiday from Warwickshire, were both experienced sailors but had been unable to right their GP14 dinghy as it seemed the mast had become caught on rocks.
On arrival, the crew checked that there were no others missing before transferring the two cold and exhausted men to the lifeboat and rushed them back to the lifeboat station for treatment.
At the lifeboat station, Lifeboat Operations Manager, Ewan Cameron, said: ‘We realised the condition of one of the men was deteriorating and he required professional medical care. An ambulance was called and thanks to the rapid treatment, the man recovered after about an hour.’
In the meantime Crew Members Howie White, Sandra Delday and Garry Macleod took the lifeboat back to the capsized boat because it was a shipping hazard. After many tries they managed to right it, bail it out with their helmets and towed it back to the lifeboat station at Temple Pier.
Inverness Coastguard were in attendance at the lifeboat station and took the boat’s owner to Dores, so that he could retrieve his car and trailer and recover the dinghy from Temple Pier.
In the second incident, which took place during the afternoon of Saturday 13 August, a person on Dores Beach alerted Aberdeen Coastguard to a capsized vessel in Dores Bay.
On arrival, the RNLI lifeboat, crewed by Garry Macleod, Joy Cameron and Jamie Macpherson​ found that the casualties had been recovered to the shore by another vessel and the lifeboat crew's advanced first aid skills were not required.
The capsized boat, however, was almost entirely submerged, and in order to prevent it becoming a hazard, the lifeboat crew quickly passed a line from the vessel to the shore so that it could be secured, before returning to the lifeboat station.
Aberdeen MRCC directed both operations and coordinated resources.