Cowes RNLI lifeboat's radio direction finding equipment was used to great effect in a pitch-dark Solent in the early hours of Thursday, 14 June.

A craft with two people aboard reported they had broken down and were lost in mid-Solent. They had left Cowes for Haslar Marina, Gosport.

When the craft, a RIB called Snore, alerted Solent coastguards of their plight soon after 0100 they said they were unsure of their position. The inshore lifeboats from both Cowes and Gosport and Fareham were dispatched and, together, using direction-finding equipment, finally managed to locate the RIB near South Ryde Middle Buoy. Gosport lifeboat towed it to the Haslar Marina.

The Cowes helm, Patrick Moreton, praised his crew for what was a challenging task in the darkness. Heather Lambden manned the direction finding and the other crew were Chris Cockroft and Alisdair Boden. The lifeboat had been off-station for about an hour.