Boat owners told to keep vessels seaworthy

Boat owners in Cornwall have been told to make sure their vessels are seaworthy after a busy bank holiday for coastguards.

Falmouth Coastguard said staff were involved in eight lifeboat taskings on Monday, seven coastguard team taskings and two incidents where a helicopter was needed.

The service said boat owners needed to learn their call signs and ensure their vessels were safe before putting them in the water.

Coastguard Dave Henry said vessels that were out of the water for a period of time were more likely to breakdown and need rescuing.

Mr Henry said it was a "quite a busy day" for the coastguard.

He said: "Generally, from a safety point of view, vehicles are starting to go back on the water.

"What we're looking at is that people are making sure their vessels are seaworthy.

"We tend to find it's the second time people go out that they break down, not the first.

"I think it's to do with filters and fuel, so, if the vessels not serviced, it gives up on the second go, when people have more confidence, which is always unfortunate."

Mr Henry asked boat owners to make sure they knew their vessel's call sign as well as its name.

He said: "If we've got a call sign, we can identify it and, if something further happens, at least we have details and we can chase it back through emergency s.

"I'm sure there are a lot of vessels called Herring Gull, or something along those lines, so further details are always useful to us so we can chase it up if we can't get hold of you."

Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].