The weather is being blamed for the RNLI's busy 2011
According to the South West RNLI, 2011 was a record breaking year, with 1571 people being rescued and boats being launched 1586 times. In the south east, Kent RNLI was called out 396 times to rescue 442 people, up 15% on 2010, and in Wales and the Isle of Man, a total of 7,228 hours were spent responding to emergencies and 21,504 hours training.
At the other end of the country, Scotland RNLI have said that they launched on average 20 times every week, totalling more than 1000 times in 2011.
Isla Reynolds, an RNLI spokesperson commenting on the reasons why it was such as good year told MBM, “With the best April we have had in years, the extra bank holiday and the warm Autumn meant we had a long boating season. Overall we have seen a 2% rise in launches with a total of 8,905.”
