THE owner of a jet ski company has spoken of the moment a ‘drunk’ man in his underwear attempted to swim to a cruise ship moored two nautical miles off Weymouth Bay, before being rescued and taken back to safety by one of his team.
Dan Bell and his team from Jurassic Jet Ski Tours had been providing safety cover for a charity paddleboard race in the bay when they spotted the swimmer, who was outside the four knot buoys and heading further out to sea.
One of the three-strong jet ski crew, Mark Fagg – who is also Station Officer at Wyke Coastguard Rescue Team – rode to the man’s aid, got him on to the ski’s rescue sled and took him safely back to shore.
In the meantime, the man’s friends had dialled 999 having lost sight of him, leading to the launch of Wyke Coastguard and two RNLI lifeboats, who were stood down thanks to Mark’s intervention.
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Dan, who is also a member of Wyke Coastguard, said the swimmer was a ‘lucky man’.
He said: “We had been providing safety cover for a charity paddleboard event for MV Freedom. The race involved two laps of the bay and it was on the second lap that we noticed a recreational swimmer in his underwear and kept observations on him.
“As the paddleboarders safely completed the lap, Mark went out to him. He was around 500m out at that point.
“The swimmer told him that he was attempting to swim out to the cruise ships, which are moored around half a mile from the shore.
“He explained to him just how far they are away and what a bad idea that would be, and just how far he was already out to sea.
“We have rescue sleds on the jet skis which have grab handles to get casualties to safety, so he got him safely out of the water and took him to shore.”
Dan’s team were volunteering their time to provide supervision for the paddleboard event run by MV Freedom – a charity which has been providing access to the sea for people living with disabilities for the past 36 years - on Saturday afternoon.
He added: “His friends had dialled 999 because they had lost sight of him so the Coastguard and two RNLI lifeboats were launched with the call to find a missing swimmer, but thankfully he was already safe with Mark.
“The man was intoxicated and not from the area. It proves that water and alcohol really don’t mix.
“It’s a really dangerous thing to do. There was an strong offshore wind and so, although it may have seemed possible to get out to sea in that direction, swimming back would have been very difficult. He also showed signs of coldness.
“He’s a very lucky man.”
A spokesman for Wyke Coastguard said: "Solent Coastguard tasked the team along with both Weymouth Lifeboats after a swimmer was reported missing by friends after they dialled 999 and asked for the coastguard.
"He had entered the water aiming to swim to one of the moored cruise ships in Weymouth Bay.
"Fortunately for the swimmer, Jurassic Jet Ski Tours Ltd were providing safety cover for an event in Weymouth Bay. One of the ski's spotted splashes offshore in the evening sun light. A swimmer was identified and kept under observation for a short while whilst the event concluded.
"With the swimmer now well outside the four knot buoys and still swimming away from shore, he was intercepted.
"After a short discussion about his position and the likely outcome if he continued his course of action he was persuaded to climb onto the ski's rescue sled. He was taken ashore to be met by team members and given safety advice.
"Once it was established this was the reported casualty the lifeboats were stood down. Both he and his friends were very grateful and apologetic."
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