A crew member on board a Polish sail training vessel has been helped by a Falmouth lifeboat crew after seriously cutting his hand and needing a medical evacuation.

The Sail Training Ship Dar Mlodziezy was sailing down the English Channel on her way to Funchal in Madeira when one of her trainees cut his hand badly. The ship’s doctor treated the wound and stitched it up but because the cut was so severe and he had damaged ligaments and nerves it was deemed necessary to get him to hospital as soon as possible.

The RNLI volunteer pagers alerted them to the plight of the sailor at 4:45 pm but as the sailing ship was some 40 miles away from Falmouth the Lifeboat Coxswain suggested to the coastguard that, rather than attempt a transfer of the casualty at sea, in a brisk northerly wind and a swell of 4 to 5 meters or more, she should be asked to alter course for Falmouth Bay and carry out the transfer in more sheltered waters.

The coxswain then phoned around to gather his crew and made ready for the medical evacuation..

The Richard Cox Scott sailed at five minutes to eleven and arrived alongside the Dar Mlodziezy some twenty five minutes later. The transfer was duly carried out and the casualty brought ashore where he was put into a waiting ambulance and sent to Treliske Hospital for treatment.

The all-weather lifeboat was released shortly afterward. She was then washed down and refuelled ready for immediate service again at just after midnight.

• The crew on this medivac were: Mark Pollard (Coxswain); Alastair Heane; Luke wills; Sandy Proctor; Nick Head; Sam Hall and Andy Jenkins.

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