29 Mar 2011 - At the end of last year, NCI Prawle Point took part in an exercise to back up its claim that National Coastwatch helps to ‘take the search out of search and rescue’. Operation November gave the Prawle Point watchkeepers a chance to use radios to guide Salcombe’s all weather and inshore lifeboats in to find drifting divers. Little did they realize at the time that they would be doing this for real earlier this month as reported in the following Marine & Coastguard Agency (MCA) press notice issued shortly after the incident.

TWO OVERDUE DIVERS FOUND
Two divers who were reported to the Coastguard as having not returned to their dive vessel after diving off Bolt Head near Salcombe this morning have been located and brought safely ashore. At 11.18 this morning the dive boat Totnes Diver One contacted Brixham Coastguard to report that they had two divers who had been due back to the vessel at 11.00 and had not returned. Brixham Coastguard requested the launch of both Salcombe RNLI Lifeboats to begin a search and also tasked the Coastguard helicopter Rescue 106 from Portland. They also contacted the National Coastwatch Institution (NCI) based at Prawle Point, who reported back that they could see both divers just south of the Mew Stone. Brixham Coastguard then initiated a call between themselves, the Salcombe Inshore Lifeboat and the NCI, who guided the lifeboat towards the divers. The divers were then recovered into the dive vessel, and did not require medical attention. Prawle Coastguard Rescue Team were also tasked to meet the divers on their return to shore.

Brixham Coastguard Watch Officer Paul Myers said:”This is a great example of the Coastguard working with other agencies to ensure a swift resolution of an incident along with the use of embedded local knowledge. We were able to work with the National Coastwatch Institution to locate the divers, guide the lifeboat towards them and ensure they were both brought safely ashore”.