Cardigan RNLI called out to broken down jetski near Aberporth

The crew was led by Leo Barber on his first rescue after qualifying as an Atlantic 85 Helm just a week earlier.

The call came on Saturday, July 29 at 2.05pm, to assist with a broken down jetski that was drifting around 400m off the coast from Aberporth towards Tresaith.

RNLI launching the Atlantic boat. (Image: Sara Morgan)

The crew launched the Atlantic 85 (Albatross) and sped to the area where the crew were able to find the drifting jetski and rider. The rider had been joined by a kayaker, paddleboarder and a RNLI lifeguard on a rescue board.

The rider was taken on board the Atlantic and the lifeboat crew towed the jetski. The paddleboarder was also taken on board the Atlantic, whilst the kayaker and lifeguard chose to make their own way back to shore.

SUVs tried to tow the jetski away after it was returned to the beach. (Image: Emyr Williams)

When back to Aberporth beach, the jetski rider was put into the care of the RNLI lifeguards and the Atlantic returned to the station. The jetski was then towed by an SUV on Traeth Dyffryn according to witnesses, but it was bogged down in the sand. A second SUV tried to pull the first one out and also got stuck, but was able to pull itself out of the sand.

The first SUV with the jetski was pulled out by a tractor.

A tractor had to pull the first SUV (Image: Emyr Williams)

The crew of the Atlantic was helmsman Leo Barber, Madi Barber, Steffan Pusey and Andrew Thomas. Pete Austin was on duty as lifeboat operations manager and Derek Pusey was the launch vehicle driver. George Elwin was the head launcher and they were supported by the shore crew of Lyn Adams, Mark Voss, Lewis O’Sullivan, Paul Adams, Gareth Owen, Gareth Lumsdaine, Oli James and Sarah Morgan.