Author: James Baggott

Gosport & Fareham Inshore Rescue Service (GAFIRS) assisted Coastguard 104 rescue helicopter with some vital lifesaving training in The Solent. The rescue helicopter, based at Lee-on-the-Solent, called on GAFIRS on October 16 to provide assistance with winching and life raft deployment. https://twitter.com/GAFIRS/status/787618720957038592 The exercise lasted around 45 minutes...

Rescuers came to the aid of a stricken 40-foot yacht on Saturday when it lost its mast while sailing in The Solent. The vessel, which had 12 people on board, had lost its mast and had rigging trailing in the water when Gosport & Fareham Inshore...

Rescuers were launched three times this weekend to assist vessels in distress in The Solent. Lifeboat crews from Gosport & Fareham Inshore Rescue Service (GAFIRS), based at Stokes Bay, Gosport, were first called into action by UK Coastguard on Saturday afternoon. GAFIRS was tasked to assist a...

Gosport’s independent lifeboat came to the aid of two stricken vessels in quick succession on Friday night. Gosport & Fareham Inshore Rescue Service’s (GAFIRS) voluntary crew were paged by UK Coastguard at 2120 to assist a yacht that had issued a Pan Pan emergency distress call. The...

Rescuers helped evacuate an injured man from a fishing vessel in Portsmouth Harbour on Tuesday evening. UK Coastguard tasked Gosport & Fareham Inshore Rescue Service to assist the man, who had fallen and injured his hip, at around 2230. The MOD police RIB was alongside the casualty...

Rescuers evacuated a woman with a serious head injury off a fort in the middle of The Solent this morning. The woman was winched into the Coastguard Rescue Helicopter from Spitbank Fort with assistance from Gosport & Fareham Inshore Rescue Service (GAFIRS). GAFIRS was launched at 0840...

Rescuers were tasked to assist a rigid inflatable boat (RIB) that had got into difficulties in the middle of The Solent on Sunday. The seven metre RIB was located between Fishbourne and Cowes when it suffered engine failure and was drifting near the shipping channel. Gosport &...

Gosport independent lifeboat was called to assist a stricken 31ft catamaran in The Solent on Thursday evening. UK Coastguard requested Gosport & Fareham Inshore Rescue Service’s lifeboat, the Joan Dora Fuller, take over a tow of a casualty vessel from Bembridge Lifeboat after it had got...

Gosport and Fareham Inshore Rescue Service (GAFIRS) crew took part in the making of a special viral video to raise awareness of a charity campaign. The video - organised by Andy Elwood, a paramedic crewman of the Coastguard 104 rescue helicopter - is designed to highlight...