UK lifesavers analyse their rescues in 2010

11:40 PM Mon 31 Jan 2011 GMT

'RNLI responding to an incident' .

In the UK last year, just under 20% of all Royal National Lifeboat Insititution (RNLI) lifeboat launches were to sailing vessels. Another 33% were to motor boats and manual boats, and the rest, a whopping 47% of the rescues, did not involve a boat of any sort. Analysing these numbers, the RNLI is calling on boaters and watersports enthusiasts to stay safe and wear a lifejacket in 2011. Machinery failure was the most common cause for rescue, with 1,740 of all launches responding to vessels with mechanical problems ? up from 1,687 in 2009. The charity?s lifeboats spent a total ...

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by Sail-World Cruising