Yacht Club heroes to the rescue in 1950!

As anyone with an ounce of sailing experience will tell you, even when it's relatively calm, the sea can be somewhat dangerous.
By The Newsroom
Published 27th Feb 2016, 06:20 BST

This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement.

SUS-160217-151823001SUS-160217-151823001
SUS-160217-151823001

The lesson was learned the hard way in 1950 by two women who found themselves the centre of attention when their boat capsized near Bognor Regis Pier.

It was July and the summer season was getting underway when Margaret Nott and Rosemary Downer put out to sea in a 10ft Commando canoe.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Neither of the women were novices on the water and both were members of the Yacht Club.

They had set off to bring in a buoy which was anchored near rocks a few hundred yards from the pier.

The row out was a simple enough affair, although the water became rather rough, but when they reached the buoy, the force of the waves had opened a small hatch on the side of the canoe and it was rapidly flooding.

Maragaret told the Observer’s reporter at the time: “There was nothing to do but get out. We hung on to the canoe, which overturned, and thought that we were drifting towards the pier. If we could have got there we knew that we could have held on.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

They weren’t drifting towards the pier, though, and fellow Yacht Club members Paul Hickman and Kenneth Cox took to the water and fought their way to the women in a rowing dinghy.

The two heroes fished Margaret and Rosemary out of the water and towed their canoe back to shore. The exhausted women were left rather in awe of the large crowd which had gathered to watch the rescue.

The moral of the story? Be careful when chasing buoys or you could wind up all washed up.

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1) Make our website your homepage at www.chichester.co.uk/

2) Like our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ChichesterObserver

3) Follow us on Twitter @Chiobserver

4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!

The Chichester Observer - always the first with your local news.

Be part of it.