Sidmouth Lifeboat is a charity that provides lifeboat and lifeguard services in Sidmouth in Devon, England. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) previously operated a lifeboat at Sidmouth between 1869 and 1912. The charity's independent service dates from 1968 and since 2019 its principal lifeboat has been an Arctic 24 boat named Peter & Barbara Truesdale.
RNLI Sidmouth Lifeboat Station
The RNLI had established stations at Lyme Regis in 1853 and at Exmouth in 1858. The station at Sidmouth was opened in 1869 to cover the coast between the two earlier stations. A boathouse was built at the end of Ham Lane which housed two lifeboats at different times:[1][2][3]
The Sidmouth RNLI lifeboat saved 38 lives but by 1912 it was seldom called out and so the station was closed. The boathouse was later demolished but a stone carved with the initials 'RNLBI' was saved and is now over a doorway of the building that stands on the site.[3]
Independent service
Students at a local secondary school set up a beach lifesaving organisation in 1968 and a rigid inflatable lifeboat was purchased in 1972. The organisation was accredited with the Coastguard as a rescue facility in 1982. A new boathouse was built on The Esplanade when it obtained a new lifeboat in 1991.[3] The lifeboat covers Lyme Bay between Budleigh Salterton and Axmouth.[5]
The Arctic 24 lifeboats are 7.66 m (25.1 ft) long and can carry 4 crew with 8 survivors. Sidmouth Lifeboat also operates a 4.2 m (14 ft) MilproAvon Sea Rider boat which is known as Speedy Sid.[6]
