A sailor fell and injured his head whilst on a tall ship sailing in stormy seas nine miles south of Caldey Island on Wednesday.

Tenby’s RNLI all-weather lifeboat Haydn Miller launched at 4.50 pm after a report from the Stavros S Niarchos that a person had fallen, injuring their head.

The volunteer crew made best speed to the casualty vessel through a three metre swell and 35 knots winds, whilst Coastguard Rescue Helicopter 187 from St. Athan also made its way.

As the lifeboat reached the casualty vessel, the helicopter was also arriving overhead and began lowering the winchman to the deck to assess the casualty. The job was made harder by the ship’s masts pitching from side to side in the swell, but the winchman made it safely to the deck.

Whilst the casualty was being checked out, the helicopter pilot and lifeboat coxswain made the decision that due to the swell and high winds, the safest course of action was to transfer the casualty in the lee of Caldey Island where there was much more shelter from the elements.

Once in the shelter of Caldey, the lifeboat managed to get alongside the Stavros and take the casualty, another crew member and the helicopter winchman aboard. The winchman, also a paramedic, had decided that the injury to the sailor didn’t require an airlift to hospital and that she was fine to be taken the short distance back to Tenby by lifeboat.

The winchman was then lifted back off the deck of the lifeboat by the helicopter, which then made its way back to base, whilst the Haydn Miller made its way back to Tenby where the casualty was checked over at the lifeboat station by the awaiting paramedics before being released.