A SOUTH Essex lifeboat crew had another busy weekend, including helping a woman suffering from a seizure.

Southend’s RNLI volunteer lifeboat crew, on duty at the pier head on Saturday September 9, responded to a request for assistance from the pier staff to help a woman having a seizure.

The crew worked closely with a paramedic who had also been called. The woman was transferred by stretcher to the Lifeboat Buggy, and then waited for an ambulance on the shore.

The Atlantic 85 lifeboat was later launched to a broken down jet ski about a quarter of a mile off Barge Pier at Shoebury.

When they arrived on scene, they found that the jet ski had run out of fuel and, despite attempts by a fellow jet skier to tow it ashore, was drifting seawards on the falling tide.

The crew took the casualty, who was suffering from cold, on board the lifeboat and towed the jet ski back to West Beach slipway and assisted with the recovery onto a trailer.

On Sunday September 10, whilst on a PR exercise at Old Leigh Regatta, the volunteer crew of the Atlantic 85 lifeboat were tasked by Dover Coastguard to a sinking 20 foot day-sailing boat off Thorpe Bay.

The safety boats from the yacht club were on hand and had taken the casualties on board, with the yacht anchored to prevent it from drifting.

It was hoped the lifeboat crew would be able to use their portable salvage pump to raise the casualty, this proved to be impossible due to the attitude of the sunken craft.

With no further assistance required, the crew returned to the pier head boathouse but launched the Atlantic 85 again to reports of a windsurfer in difficulty off the Crowstone at Chalkwell.

The crew were stood down en route when the surfer had made his own way to the shore, and returned to the boathouse for a wash down and refuel.

The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts.

The RNLI operates 237 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland with 4,700 lifeboat crew and has more than 1,300 lifeguards on over 220 beaches around the UK and Channel Islands.

For more see www.southendlifeboat.org