Zero incidents during iconic rowing event says Chiswick RNLI

Lifesavers at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution are thrilled that the weekend’s University Boat Race went off without a single casualty or incident on the River Thames.

In recent years the lifeboat crews have had to deal with as many as 80 different incidents including lost children, people in the river, and slips, trips and falls.

But Wayne Bellamy, manager of Chiswick RNLI Lifeboat Station, said the 2017 event was a massive milestone for everyone concerned, with not a single incident for its lifeboats crews and lifeguards.

Wayne said: ‘This is fantastic, when you consider two years ago we had 88 incidents on race day, things like spectators having a few too many drinks and ending up in the river, and even a boy who got separated from his parents and ended up sat on a wall cut off from the foreshore by the rising tide.

‘Last year there were only eight incidents which we responded to, and the worst it got was a person with a broken leg. This year – not a single incident. That is fantastic, and is testament to the great organisation of the event and – the RNLI would like to think – people heeding safety warnings by ourselves and other agencies.’

For this year’s University Boat Race, Chiswick RNLI Lifeboat Station had its usual presence of two lifeboats on the water, crewed by a mixture of full time and volunteer lifeboat crew members. In addition, the RNLI utilised 18 lifeguards garnered from beaches around the south east, and 8 inshore rescue watercrafts, which are usually used by said lifeguards to rescue people in distress in the water.

‘Wayne said: ‘Not only were there no incidents, our face-to-face fundraising team spoke to more than 3,500 people about the work of the RNLI, so we hope a significant proportion of those learned a bit more about what we do and will consider supporting the charity in some way in the future.’

Chiswick RNLI launched 180 times and rescued 110 people last year, according to the latest figures for what is the second busiest lifeboat station in London.

In 2016 London’s lifeboats launched on 758 occasions, prompting a plea from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) for people to take more care when on or near the River Thames. Launches to people in the water showed 25% increase from 2015. Machinery failure on boats continues to be the biggest reason for launching.

Volunteer lifeboat crews at lifeboat stations in central London, Chiswick and Teddington rescued a total of 195 people throughout 2016. Their lifeboat crew members – many of whom are volunteers who give up their time for free – collectively spent a total of 8,485 hours on the water involved in either searches and rescues or training exercises.


Tower and Chiswick RNLI lifeboat stations are traditionally the two busiest stations out of the RNLI’s 237 stations, and 2016 was no different. Tower launched 512 times and rescued 72 people; Chiswick launched 180 times and rescued 110 people; and Teddington launched 66 times and rescued 13 people.

Collectively the three London lifeboat stations saved a total of 32 people. The charity uses specific criteria to determine whether a rescue resulted in a “life saved” – when all the evidence shows without the intervention of the RNLI, a person would have lost their life.

Overall, the number of lifeboat launches from 237 lifeboat stations around the entire coast of the UK and Ireland is up 7 % from 2015 to 8,851 in 2016 (a five-year high). Lifeguard incidents also increased from 2015 to 2016, up to 17,414. The charity’s lifesavers saved 558 people’s lives last year.

For a wealth of information on how to stay safe on or near water or to find your nearest lifeguarded beach, visit the RNLI’s website at www.rnli.org.uk

2016 – the RNLI in numbers

· Lifeboat Launches: 8,851
· Lifeboat Lives Saved: 431
· Lifeboat People Rescued: 8,643
· Lifeboat Crew Hours at Sea: 60,306
· Lifeboat Exercise Hours at Sea: 168,562
· Lifeboat Total Hours at Sea: 228,869
· It’s been the busiest year for lifeboat launches since 2011.
· Launches to people in the water took a 25% increase from 2015.
· Machinery failure continues to be the biggest reason for launching lifeboats.
· Missing people saw a 25% increase against the 2015 figures.

April 7, 2017