Marine News
Sent in by John Kinsman, operations manager Coastwatch St Monans, Fife. Featured image shows the old windmill at St Monans, where the coastwatch station is based. Credit J Kinsman.
Lifeboat rescues yacht
A lifeboat from Anstruther, Fife was called out to help a stricken yacht after it broke down close to the site of a major wind farm in the Firth of Forth. The coastguard received a call for help from the vessel which had suffered engine trouble near the Neart n.a Gaoithe offshore wind farm.
A boat run by the wind farm also went to help until the Anstruther lifeboat arrived. The stricken yacht was later towed into Anstruther harbour by the lifeboat where they were met by members of the coastguard. No-one was hurt.
Stranded angler rescue
Coastguard teams from Montrose and Arbroath were called out after a fisherman became stranded on rock at the cliffs.
The angler had been fishing at Arbroath cliffs when he became stuck on a rock and found himself unable to get back to shore.
Coastguard teams from Montrose and Arbroath were called out to give assistance along with Arbroath lifeboat and the fisherman was soon rescued by the lifeboat and taken to a nearby beach.
A spokesman for the coastguard said: “HM coastguards received a call from the fisherman who was stranded on rock at the Arbroath cliffs. We sent Montrose and Arbroath coastguards rescue teams and Arbroath all weather lifeboat. The fisherman was rescued by the lifeboat and landed on a nearby beach where he was met by the coastguard team who provided safety advice.”
Coastwatch
Coastwatch St Monans have had a fairly busy month. They were alerted to keep watch for an overdue windsurfer whom was later found safe and well on shore. The team also carried out daily watch keeping duties at their lookout station situated in the historic windmill situated on the cliff top to the east of the village.
The team also had a visit from the newly elected councillor who came to the station and met the crew. The councillor praised the work of the team and thanked them for giving up their time to help those in trouble. The team who met the councillor was operations manager John Kinsman, deputy manager Anne kinsman, assist deputy manager John McLean, team members, Karen Dobson, Bob McDonald, Beth McLean, Cameron McDonald and new recruits, May and Cameron Copeland.
Dinghy
Coastwatch St Monans team were alerted by HM coastguards to a small dinghy adrift off Elie harbour just as dusk was falling.
The coastwatch volunteers were paged and made their way to Elie harbour to make visual contact with the dinghy. On arrival at the scene they found the person on board the dinghy had made it safely to shore along with his dinghy. Coastwatch St Monans team informed coastguards of the outcome and all other services were stood down. Advice was given to the owner of the dinghy.
Polish warship
Experts based in Fife will play a vital role in the construction of three Polish warships. Babcock, based in Rosyth has signed an agreement to share its technology expertise. Babcock will support the Polish government programme to deliver three arrowhead 140 frigates. These will be built in Polish shipyards by a local workforce,
The firm said the contract underpins the strong economic and trade relations between the UK and Poland. At present Babcock Rosyth is working on a £1.25 billion contract for five new warships for the Royal Navy. The project is creating 1,250 Fife jobs. At its peak it will support 2,500 jobs across the UK.
