The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) has today revealed its rescue statistics for 2015. At the five stations on the Isle of Man – Douglas, Peel, Ramsey, Port St Mary and Port Erin there were a total of 34 launches and 35 people rescued during the year.

The busiest station on the island was Douglas, with 13 all-weather lifeboat launches - 10 of which were during the hours of darkness. However, the most people rescued was at Port St Mary, where 20 people were rescued. The all-weather lifeboat rescued 16 people and the inshore lifeboat brought four people to safety.

Ramsey’s volunteer crew followed Douglas, as the second busiest station in terms of launches. The station’s lifeboat launched eight times and rescued five people.

Despite a small decline in the number of incident compared with 2014, RNLI volunteers from across the UK were kept exceptionally busy due to their roles with the charity’s Flood Rescue Team. Rising flood waters saw a number of deployments throughout December, with much activity focussed around Cockermouth, Cumbria and Carlisle. Welsh volunteers with specialist swift water rescue joined colleagues from across the UK, assisting 337 people and rescuing 74 people in distress.

Nationally, during 2015 volunteer lifeboat crews rescued 7,973 people whilst the charity’s lifeguards rescued 1,790 people around UK and Irish coastal waters. The year was an important one for the charity on the Isle of Man, as Swim Safe came to the island for the very first time. The programme of free open water swimming sessions for 7-14-year-olds run by the RNLI and the Amateur Swimming Association proved a complete success, with all 192 places snapped up. Due to its success, the programme in Peel is set to expand when it returns this year.

Rogan Wheeldon, Community Incident Reduction Manager for the RNLI covering the Isle of Man said:

‘Our volunteer lifeboat crew and lifeguards have again worked exceptionally hard serving our local communities. We continue to urge those working or enjoying our coastline and inland areas to respect the water. Inland, floods caused heartache for many at the end of 2015 and we ask those faced with floods to be aware of the fast flowing flood waters and to keep a safe distance. We understand that things can go wrong from time, so some preventative maintenance and annual checks prior to the boating season should allow for worry free sea time.

‘We would like to thank all of our volunteers for their tireless hard work and dedication over the last 12 months, without all of our volunteers, fundraisers, education teams our lifesaving service would not operate.’

The volunteer lifeboat crews carry pagers 24/7, never knowing what may lie ahead when the alarm is raised. The most frequent type of call out in the west (which includes Wales and the Isle of Man) was to bring people ashore, with 261 incidents of this nature in 2014 – the highest since 2011. This is followed closely by call outs to power pleasure craft (206 incidents) and then sail pleasure craft (196).

The most commons cause of service was machinery failure, with 206 call outs in 2015.

With the RNLI’s services in more demand than ever, the RNLI is highlighting how support from the public is more vital than ever.

Last year, the RNLI became first major UK charity to announce a fundamental change to the way it contacts people. From 1 January 2017 it will only contact individuals who have expressly given their permission to contact them. In light of the new ‘opt in’ system, where individuals chose to be contacted, the RNLI says public support is more vital than ever.

Darren Byers, RNLI Divisional Operations Manager for the RNLI covering the Isle of Man said:

‘It’s humbling to see the lifesaving work of our volunteer crew, lifeguards, flood rescue teams and safety advisers. And now the RNLI as a whole owes it to them to act with integrity and tenacity as we take this step to opt-in communications from January 2017.

‘So I’m appealing to all our dedicated supporters to help us by ticking our opt-in box over the next few months – to hear about our rescues, our safety advice, and our events and help us save the lives of hundreds more in the years to come.

‘Look out for our future opt-in campaign, or call our Supporter Care team on 0300 300 9918 (UK) or 0044 1202 663234 (non-uk) weekdays between 8am-6pm. Alternatively, contact the team by e-mail at optin@rnli.org.uk quoting your supporter number.’

Photo - Douglas RNLI lifeboat Sir William Hillary.