Wemyss Bay residents rescued by Largs lifeboat

Monday, May 07, 2012.
Posted by Webmaster (webmaster@wemyssbay.net).

This is the story as reported in the Greenock Telegraph:
Two Wemyss Bay children and their father were rescued by a Largs lifeboat on Friday night. Their 17 foot speedboat broke down off Largs and a passer by alerted Clyde Coastguard. Thankfully no-one was injured.

A spokesman for the coastguard said, "The children were launching the boat and it went off without their father on board. He was wearing a wetsuit and swam after the boat, which broke down about half-a-mile from the slipway."

Source: Greenock Telegraph

UPDATE (from someone involved in the incident): I have since heard from someone involved in this incident that the story as it appears in the Greenock Telegraph is far from accurate.

It was in fact a young man and his mother that were in the boat (not two children), the engine cut out and died not long after they had launched it, and the offshore wind blew them out about 200m at most (not half a mile) while the dad was parking the car!

The dad did then swim out to them and lifeboats came because somebody that works for them saw the dad swimming and towed them back in.