Poole’s RNLI inshore lifeboat launched on Tuesday to a report that three teenagers were in the water, having been
thrown from their speedboat. The boat was precariously turning around in
circles with no one on board.

The volunteer crew launched
and arrived on scene in seven minutes to find the speedboat turning in a
tight circle at about 15 knots. They made sure that it wouldn’t
cause any damage to anyone else in the vicinity before establishing
where the three boys were.

One of the boys had managed to scramble
onto nearby rocks and Portland coastguard tasked
the SAR Helicopter 106 to airlift him to safety. A awaiting ambulance took him to hospital where he
was treated for cold, shock, cuts and mild abrasions.

A passing
yacht had picked another of the boys up, so a search ensued for the
third boy. He had made it ashore and was safe on the beach
with the mobile coastguard unit. All three boys were wearing buoyancy aids.

The volunteer lifeboat crew then
attended to the teenager who was on the yacht. They checked him over and
found him to be okay, albeit shaken up.

The inshore
lifeboat returned to attend to the speedboat. With the ski rope still
attached, it was hard to stop the boat, but the crew managed it by
plying lines to foul the propeller.

They towed the boat to
Studland beach, before taking the father and teenager’s undertow back to
Baiter slipway as by now their speedboat had ran out of fuel.

Volunteer helmsman Dave Riley says:

‘Water
skiing without a kill cord can be very dangerous, a kill cord is a
vital piece of safety equipment, these guys were very lucky.’