The volunteer crew were paged at 8.15 p.m. on Thursday 2nd June by Uk Coastguard (Dover) to recover a red object, possibly a kite surfer's rig, spotted by a swimmer 50 metres off of Bognor Sailing Club. Littlehampton Coastguard unit had been called to the incident but could not positively identify the object.
At the same time a rucksack was found on the beach near the area and so the D-class inshore Lifeboat (ILB) was requested to recover and identify the red object. The ILB with a crew of three launched at 8.22 p.m. and proceeded to Bognor, arriving on scene at 8.44 p.m. The weather on scene was wind Northerly force 3-4, sea state moderate in overcast sky.
The Littlehampton Coastguard unit conned the ILB on to the red object, which was found to be snagged on something but was quickly freed. This was identified as a conventional rhombus kite and taken ashore to the waiting Coastguards. The rucksack was confirmed as not to be connected to this incident.
The ILB was released from the incident at 8.50 p.m. to return to Selsey, arriving at 9.06 p.m. and rehousing straight away.
This incident was classed as false alarm with good intent.
CREW: Gary Pearce (Helmsman), Sam Troughton-Smith and Harry Emmence.