A 35-year-old sailor had to be picked up the the crew of the Gosport & Fareham Inshore Rescue Service’s (GAFIRS) lifeboat after he suffered a head injury when his catamaran capsized close to No Man’s Land Fort.

The man, from Portsmouth, was sailing with a friend in a 5.9-metre catamaran in the Solent when the incident happened.

GAFIRS was on patrol in the area near to No Man’s Land Fort when they noticed the crew of the catamaran were struggling and the vessel had capsized.

UK Coastguard tasked GAFIRS to investigate.

Once the lifeboat crew had arrived on the scene at around 1430 on Saturday (3 June), the crew of the catamaran had just managed to right it.

GAFIRS lifeboat goes past the fort. Credit: GAFIRS

Recalling the incident, GAFIRS lifeboat coxswain, Mike Allen, said: “I placed a crewman on board the catamaran to assist with sailing it back to its home port on Hayling Island as it was clear the crew were tired.”

“However, my crewman noticed one of the sailors had suffered a head injury and was beginning to feel drowsy and sick. The bruising was getting worse so we called for assistance to meet us on shore,” he explained.

Hayling Island Coastguard Rescue Team and an ambulance met GAFIRS and the casualties when they arrived at the Ferry Boat Inn pontoon to provide further treatment.

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The incident was the 39th of the year for GAFIRS.

Later on Saturday afternoon, GAFIRS carried out its 40th job of the year when it worked alongside Hamble Lifeboat to assist a seven-metre RIB that had lost steering.

Hamble Lifeboat took the vessel under tow and GAFIRS were stood down by UK Coastguard from the incident.

In total, GAFIRS was tasked to five incidents on Saturday, including helping Hill Head Coastguard Rescue Team locate an emergency distress beacon which had been inadvertently set off in Portsmouth Harbour.

Gosport & Fareham Inshore Rescue Service is completely independent of the RNLI and relies on public donations to keep it afloat.