A small boat that drifted more than 60 nautical miles along the south coast has been recovered by RNLI crews after being spotted off Rustington.
The alarm was raised just after 8am on Saturday 4 April when volunteer lifeboat helm Mark Nicholls noticed a floating object around 200 metres offshore while driving along the seafront. The vessel appeared unusually close to shore for low tide and, after ruling out fishing activity, he contacted HM Coastguard amid concerns someone could be on board.
Littlehampton RNLI was tasked to launch its D Class inshore lifeboat, Spirit of Fidelity, with Mark at the helm. Four volunteers headed out into choppy seas as winds strengthened ahead of Storm Dave.
The crew soon located the orange hull of a small tender or rescue boat. After confirming there was no one on board, they used a salvage pump to remove water from the vessel before securing it for tow.
The boat was brought safely back to Duke’s Wharf on the River Arun in Littlehampton, where efforts were made to trace its owner. It was later confirmed to belong to Easy Riders, a watersports company based in Sandbanks near Poole Harbour.
The company had reported the vessel — affectionately known as “Izzy” — missing four days earlier and had even launched a fundraising page for the RNLI, inviting supporters to guess where it might be found.
Izzy had travelled approximately 60 nautical miles east before being recovered. On Sunday 5 April, representatives from Easy Riders made the journey to Littlehampton to collect the boat.
No one was reported missing, and the recovery also removed a potential hazard to other vessels.
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