Cowes Lifeboat Station
| Inshore Lifeboat | |
|---|---|
| Launch Method | Slipway |
| Address | Watch House Lane, Cowes, Isle of Wight, PO31 7QH |
| Telephone | 01983 299387 |
Explore two centuries of RNLI lifeboat history, heroic rescues, and the enduring tradition of saving lives at sea.
From the old Customs House at the mouth of the River Medina, Cowes covers the central Solent — among the most crowded sailing water in the world, and home to Cowes Week. Its Atlantic 85 answers the yachts, dinghies and powerboats of this busy stretch. The station began as an independent, town-funded lifeboat in 1989 and was taken over by the RNLI in 2008, filling a long-standing gap in cover on this crowded central stretch of the Solent.
The central Solent — the stretch of water between the Island’s north shore and the mainland — is one of the busiest sailing areas in the world, yet for many years it lay between the established lifeboat stations rather than being covered by one of its own.
To fill the gap, the independent Cowes Inshore Lifeboat (CIL) was set up in 1989, crewed by local volunteers and funded by the town. It proved its worth over nearly two decades, and in 2008 the RNLI took the station over, basing it in the historic Customs House at the end of Watch House Lane.
The station now runs an Atlantic 85, well suited to the fast, congested conditions of regatta weeks and the strong Solent tides, with much of its work involving sailing and powered craft in difficulty close to the busy shipping and ferry routes around the Medina entrance. The crew are paged the year round, but their heaviest demand comes during the great summer regattas — above all Cowes Week — when hundreds of racing yachts and spectator craft crowd the start lines off the town and collisions, capsizes and groundings come thick and fast.
