As a result of this loss, there was much concern from the public regarding the safety of bathers, fisherman and many other people who often use the sea for their recreation and sport. After a public meeting there was much support for the development of an independent rescue facility to be based at Hornsea. This would be run by volunteers and operated as a charity.
In 1994 Hornsea Rescue became a registered charity. After much hard work by the fund raising group, enough money was raised to purchase a new inshore rescue boat. The boat is a 5.85 metre rigid hull inflatable boat and was built by Ribtec of Southampton. It was delivered to Hornsea in December 1995.
The boat is equipped with twin 60hp Mariner Outboard Engines giving a top speed of around 35knts. The boat is also equipped with a GPS satellite navigation system, which was donated by Hornsea Lions and for night time operations the "Do Something Different Club" in Hull helped to raise £500, which was doubled by BP to £1,000 to allow us to purchase some Night Vision Goggles.
Longbeach Leisure Caravan Park offered Hornsea Rescue some premises free of charge to house the inshore rescue boat. This was an old disused barn, which needed restoring. Much hard work was put into rebuilding the barn and converting it into the present boathouse and operations room. Many of the materials required to refurbish the boathouse were donated by local businesses.
Hornsea Rescue is organised into two groups, a fund raising group, who as the name suggests organises all the fund raising events throughout the year. The other group is the Operations Team who look after the operating of the Inshore Rescue boat, which at the moment involves many hours of training. This is the training of volunteers to reach a professional standard, which will be admired and accepted by H M Coastguard and other rescue organisations.
The present training officers are John Escreet and Sue Hickson, who are both qualified coxswains through HM Coastguard Training Centre at Highcliffe on the South Coast. When most of the volunteers achieve their RYA Level 3 standard then it will be the aim of Hornsea Rescue to apply to H M Coastguard to gain the status of a Declared Rescue Facility. Until then Hornsea Rescue is classed and used by HM Coastguard as an additional Rescue Facility.
The rescue boat is launched at the request of HM Coastguard. All crewmembers carry a pager and can be alerted at any time of the day or night. The boat normally proceeds to an incident with a crew of 4. One being a qualified coxswain.
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