Chiswick RNLI Save Capsized Rower
Teenage girl close to being swept away by ebbing tide
The perils of boating on the tidal Thames were highlighted when Chiswick RNLI Lifeboat crew
rescued a teenage sculler who had capsized.
Chiswick RNLI Lifeboat was on exercise near Kew Bridge on Sunday morning 10 July 2011 when they came
across an upturned single scull with its rower hanging onto overhanging trees at the end of Oliver’s Ait off
Strand-on-the-Green.
The 16-year-old girl was clinging onto the branches, but was being swept further into
the tangle of vegetation by the swiftly ebbing tide.
Helmsman Martin Blaker-Rowe manoeuvred the Lifeboat into position at the end of the scull; the female was
recovered into the lifeboat by crew members J Pooley and T Smith.
The vessel was also brought aboard and
both were taken back to Tideway Scullers. On route RNLI crewman J Pooley carried out an assessment of
the casualty and found her just to be cold with no injuries. When landed ashore she was looked after by the
rowing club.
Chiswick RNLI station manager Wayne Bellamy said “It was very fortunate that Chiswick RNLI Lifeboat came
across this young woman when they did; she was getting cold, the crew thought she would not have been
able to hold on much longer and was becoming increasingly tangled in the overhanging branches.”
July 13, 2011
