Beached RNLI hovercraft, Morecambe, Lancashire, UK

Morecambe's Inshore Rescue Hovercraft, H-002 'The Hurley Flyer' (H-001 was the prototype) entered service in December, 2002. Named by Kay Hurley MBE, a prominent donor to the RNLI, the ~8 m long Griffon 47OSAR can travel at up to 30 knots on water, though that's limited to 15 knots over land for safety reasons.

As I saw this evening, she's fast, and well-suited to the intertidal conditions experienced in Morecambe Bay, where low tide retreats to the horizon, leaving a vast expanse of quicksand and soft mud – the UK's largest – and the returning tide travels at terrifying speed. Needless to say, the hovercraft was instrumental in the attempted rescue of Chinese cockle-pickers in February 2004, retrieving one survivor and eleven bodies of the 21 (at least) deaths that night.

On this occasion, the hovercraft launched at ~20:30 to rescue two men (and a dog) trapped waist-deep in water on a sandbank near the Battery mussel beds, reportedly having been trying to refloat a boat trapped by the previous falling tide.

The hovercraft launched from the back of its purpose-built transporter lorry, from the slipway/ramp beside the new Lifeboat Station, 300 m across the mud and into the permanent channel beyond the Stone Jetty. However, the gradient from the mud to the water was too great for her to return the same way, so she crossed straight back over the beach on the other side of the Jetty, to be met by an ambulance (and slightly redundant Coastguard team) on the promenade; the rescued were taken to Lancaster with possible hypothermia.

Better On Black?

Taken in: United Kingdom / England / Morecambe (show map)

Taken on: July 31, 2011

Tags:

hurley flyer

morecambe

rnli

inshore rescue

hovercraft

lifeboat

lancashire

royal national lifeboat institution

coast

irish sea

shingle

beach

stone

jetty

drysuit

ring sands

griffon

470sar

coastguard « less

Sets appears in: • North Lancs & Morecambe Bay

Groups appears in: • Seascapes and Seashores • Lancashire more » • Morecambe • Lifeboats • Seaside • Just Hovercraft • RNLI • Beach life and beaches • HML (Heysham Morecambe Lancaster & surrounding area) • Morecambe Bay • ❥ IRELAND + NORTHERN IRELAND ❥ • UK Marine Rescue « less

Camera: Canon EOS 450D, f/2.0, 1/50 sec, 50mm, ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 450D
Aperture:	f/2.0
Exposure Time:	0.02 sec (1/50)
Focal Length:	50mm
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Windows
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