Canoeists thank RNLI crew for rescuing them

A canoeist who, along with three colleagues, found himself sinking off the West Sussex coast has thanked the RNLI crew who rescued him.

Jonathan Ellman-Brown, chairman of the Shoreham Outrigger Canoe Club, said the "diligent and selfless work" of the RNLI Shoreham crew "kept all of us seafarers safe".

The four outriggers became "overwhelmed by sea conditions" about a quarter of a mile (0.4km) outside of Shoreham Harbour entrance at 11:30 GMT on 16 January.

The RNLI crew got the vessel under tow, taking the canoeists ashore to bail out before escorting them back into the harbour.

"Despite the casualties all being experienced outriggers, they had been caught out by the sea conditions and were unable to keep up bailing out the amount water swamping their boat", according to an RNLI spokeseperson.

Adam Fox, inshore lifeboat helm, said: "We were happy to be able to help the four outriggers who got into trouble.

"It just goes to show that even those who are experienced can get into difficulties."

Ellman-Brown said: "We took on a critical volume of water just south of the harbour entrance.

"The RNLI inshore lifeboat crew arrived and calmly worked with us to securely tow our canoe into the relative safety just east of the harbour arm.

"Had it not been for the RNLI, we'd have struggled for a lot longer when we were already tired, which may have ended up with us abandoning the canoe. "

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