The first shout came at 12.10pm when the lifeboat station’s Renee Sherman lifeboat responded to a mayday call from a vessel on fire near Climping beach.
On reaching the vessel, the fire appeared to have been extinguished, but Renee Sherman towed the boat to the visitor mooring at Town Quay in Littlehampton Harbour so that the fire service could assess the situation. When everything was declared safe, Littlehampton RNLI towed the vessel back to its mooring in the harbour.

The volunteer crew returned to the lifeboat station at 1.20pm, but were back in action just two hours later when they were called to assist a broken down jet ski off Littlehampton’s West Beach. The jet ski was still able to move, albeit very slowly. However, while plans were being made for Renee Sherman to tow the jet ski back to Littlehampton Harbour, HM Coastguard asked Littlehampton RNLI to investigate reports of a person heading into deep water just off Climping beach.

A coastline search commenced, but, thankfully, it was confirmed that the missing person was back on dry land safe and well. The crew returned to the jet ski, but it had been able to reach Littlehampton Harbour on its own.

Nick White, Littlehampton RNLI’s Lifeboat Operations Manager, said: ‘With so many people taking advantage of the hot weather and enjoying Littlehampton’s beaches and sea today, it’s no surprise that we had a busy day. We have been called into action more than 40 times since the start of 2020 and are always ready, 24/7, to save lives at sea.’