The only person on the 20-foot angling boat called the UK Coastguards via mobile phone at 4.27 p.m. on Wednesday 26th January reporting that his anchor appeared to be fouled and he was unable to retrieve it. The position given to the Coastguards was 4 miles west of Selsey Bill.
The all-weather Lifeboat (ALB) was requested to launch but had just been hauled on to the launching rig after a day of launch and recovery training and so needed to be spun round ready to launch again. After launching at 4.54 p.m. the ALB made best speed to the position but on arrival at 5.07 p.m. nothing could be seen. After the Coastguards contacted the man he estimated his position to be approximately 3-4 miles east of the Nab Tower 2 miles further to the south. At 5.19 p.m. the ALB came alongside the 20-foot vessel 4 miles southwest of Selsey Bill and transferred a Lifeboat crewman over to the boat to make an assessment.
The weather on scene was wind west-southwest force 2 sea state slight in fading light. The Lifeboat crewman discovered that the anchor was hard up against the outboard engine and after the skipper had released the anchor warp from the bow, he was able to recover the anchor from under the outboard. After checking that the engine was working OK the skipper of the angling boat said he would be OK to go back to his home port of Portsmouth. This was passed on to the Coastguards by the Lifeboat and they agreed to release the Lifeboat to return to station.
At 5.26 p.m. the Lifeboat crewman was recovered to the Lifeboat and the angling boat set course for Portsmouth. The ALB returned to Station arriving back at 5.55 p.m. and was recovered straight away.
CREW: Rob Archibald (Coxswain), Phil Pitham (Mechanic), James Albrey, Andy Lee, Pip Skeet and Harry Emmence.