A lifeboatman and his young son held a symbolic protest against the UK’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) withdrawing “vital” equipment from a station in west Wales.
During the London Boat Show, Huw Williams and his son Steffan walked barefoot to the RNLI stand in protest over the “Drowning Gap” they say will be created in Cardigan Bay when an all-weather lifeboat at New Quay is taken away to cut costs.
It will result in a 120-kilometre (70-mile) gap between the all-weather lifeboats in Barmouth and Fishguard.
The Ceredigion Lifeboat Campaign claims that 25% of rescues carried out from New Quay could not be achieved by an inshore rigid inflatable vessel the RNLI plans to station there.
Williams, a volunteer RNLI crewman and spokesman for the campaign, says boats can sink in seconds and hypothermia can kill within half an hour.
“While inshore lifeboats are good at what they do, they cannot launch in severe weather, meaning a wait of up to 90 minutes for a lifeboat to arrive,” he said.
The introduction of new, faster lifeboats was supposed to improve rescue capability not reduce it, says Williams. “As lifeboat crew members, we are happy to give our time voluntarily. All we ask for is the right equipment for the job.”
Last summer, Steffan, then only eight years old, made headlines after twice rescuing people cut off by the tide.
“I want to join the crew when I am 17 years old, and hope they will change their minds,” he said.
