TWO fishermen were rescued from a beach near Watchet after rising tide trapped them on a rapidly-narrowing strip of shingle.
Minehead’s volunteer RNLI crew were called to the beach in Warren Bay on Friday evening when the fisherman became trapped.
Minehead lifeboat helmsman Richard Gay said: “They literally had nowhere to go. The tide was still rising, they couldn’t move along the beach in either direction and they had a crumbling cliff face at their backs.”
Both Minehead lifeboats were launched just after 7pm and located the men in a joint operation with Watchet coastguards.
The operation was made trickier because of a large submerged reef lying just offshore.
But said Mr Gay: “The coastguards were able to shine torches to show us a clear passage in to the beach, so we reached the casualties with no problems.”
The men, unharmed but shaken, were taken off the beach by the station’s smaller D-class boat, transferred to the larger Atlantic 85 and put ashore in Watchet harbour.
This spring has seen a succession of high tides caused by a rare alignment of the sun and moon.
Rescue services are warning anglers and Anglers and walkers using West Somerset to check tide times, particularly on the weekend of March 20-22 when more high-tides are expected.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here