What had started out as an ordinary working day for commercial fisherman Paul turned into his worst nightmare when he went overboard from the Sidney Rose, miles from land.
But his decision to put on a lifejacket that morning, equipped with a locator beacon, likely saved his life. He’s been fishing for 38-years and has had just the one man overboard experience. But once is all it takes to never return to shore again.
Paul activated his PLB, which alerted HM Coastguard to his position immediately – and sent the Plymouth and Salcombe RNLI lifeboats, the Hope Cove Independent lifeboat and the search and rescue helicopter from Newquay to look for him.
His skipper then raised the alarm with a Mayday, confirming to authorities that the alert they were searching for was, in fact, a man overboard. He was found, 67 minutes later, cold but otherwise unharmed…