Four shouts, 124 lifejacket checks and six hours training resulted in a busy weekend for the RNLI.

The Dart RNLI first heard the pagers sound on Saturday morning as the Operations and Community Lifesaving teams were gathering at the lifeboat station for the annual free lifejacket check.

A three metre tender had been spotted floating south west of the Dart estuary with the engine in the down position and the cover off. It had been assessed as a possible man overboard situation.

The D class inshore lifeboat crew working alongside the Dartmouth coastguard SAR team searched the sea and the coastline for an hour before the owner of a yacht was found as he was about to sail from Dartmouth. It was presumed that his tender had been deliberately set adrift overnight.

Meanwhile, at the lifeboat station, the team from Ocean Safety in Plymouth carried out checks on 124 lifejackets and only three had to be rejected.

The figure has dropped over the last seven years, as initially over a third were found to be unfit for use.

Additionally, after the exciting news of the two year trial of a B class lifeboat at RNLI Dart, the crew looked to use all available training time on the D class so everyone would be fully proficient for when the B class arrives later this year. The volunteers spent over six and a half hours training on the water over the weekend.

While out training, the RNLI team were only 200m away, opposite Noss Marina in Dartmouth harbour, when a Bayliner cabin cruiser developed a broken water pipe and required a salvage pump.

The lifeboat crew informed the coastguard and self-launched to return to the lifeboat station for a pump. When the crew returned, they found the Bayliner had been taken in tow by a vessel from the Dart Harbour Navigation Authority which had already placed a pump on board.

The fourth call of last weekend was to a 35ft cabin cruiser with two on board that had put out a Pan pan distress call as it was passing the Mewstone.

The crew were training up-river and met the casualty at the visitors pontoon at Darthaven Marina. The lady was given oxygen and assessed by an RNLI trained casualty care crew member.

She and her husband were then taken across the river in the lifeboat to an ambulance waiting on the Dartmouth side and after assessment from the paramedics, the lady was able to return to her boat later on.