Volunteer Deputy Launching Authority, Dave Ashman has raised £570 for Exmouth RNLI made up from sponsorship and prize money. He was also part of a South West RNLI team of five boats which finished second and raised a total of £8,081 for the charity that saves lives at sea.

In his Trapper 300 named Sun Trapper, Dave and two other crew members began the sailing race at 9.30am on Saturday 18 August from Plymouth. 72 boats took part in the 26 mile return course to Hand Deeps Buoy, off Eddystone Rocks. Sun Trapper came tenth overall and won £225 in prize money. The rest of the donation comprised of pledged sponsorship through the internet, the RNLI shop and the Exe Sailing Club.

Brixham coastguard tasked the charity’s all-weather life boat, Margaret Jean at 9.40am on Sunday 5 August. A 22 year old diabetic man was experiencing chest pains and vomiting aboard a commercial fishing vessel 11 miles east of Straight Point in Lyme Bay.

Using the on-board VHF radio, a colleague of the casualty had contacted a Doctor for advice to which an “immediate evacuation” order was given. Margaret Jean was launched at 9.57am with a crew of five plus Coxswain, into moderate weather conditions with heavy rain showers.

Exmouth RNLI’s lifeboat medical adviser, Dr. Peter Aitken has been chosen as part of an RNLI team providing safety and medical cover during the Olympic sailing events. The competitive sailing events take place between 29 July and 11 August at Weymouth and Portland....

Exmouth RNLI held their annual Sea Sunday service on 15 July at the boathouse on Queens Drive. Reverend James Hutchings, Priest-in-charge  Littleham-cum-Exmouth with Lympstone Mission Community took the service for his first time, leading prayers and hymns for those who work and live by the sea.

Around 150 people attended the 30 minute service, attracting many beach visitors throughout the duration. Town Mayor, John Humphreys and representatives from the coastguards, coastwatch and paramedics were in attendance. 11 volunteer crew members with their Coxswain, Tim Mock; Chairman of the lifeboat management group, Tim Baker; RNLI lifeguards and volunteers from local RNLI branches joined members of Exmouth and Budleigh Salterton RNLI Fundraising Guild for the occasion.

Exmouth’s all weather lifeboat, Margaret Jean was tasked to assist a yacht in Lyme Bay at 1.53am on Monday 2 July. As volunteers were concluding the rescue nearly four hours later, another radio call from Brixham coast guards suggested another imminent rescue for the volunteers.

A total of seven volunteer crew went to the rescue of two men from Dorset aboard a 36 foot yacht, eight miles off Lyme Regis. They were sailing between Weymouth and Falmouth in south-westerly force six to eight winds and rough sea.

Volunteer Deputy Launching Authority, Dave Ashman said;

‘At first they had engine problems – water in the fuel, but they had managed to cure that problem. The rope over the side from the sheet of the jib had wrapped itself around the propeller. We got out there and towed him back to a mooring in the estuary to safety.’

Contractors installed a number of solar panels to the roof of Exmouth RNLI boathouse on Thursday 14 and Friday 15 June. This addition to the building on Queens Drive has increased the number of ways Exmouth RNLI are working with renewable sources to keep running costs to a minimum.

The 22 photovoltaic cell panels are capable of generating a total of four kilo watts when working at full capacity. They will generate power to contribute to the national grid which the charity will benefit from in the way of reduced energy bill tariffs, therefore saving money.