A FISHERMAN had to be helped by a lifeboat crew over the weekend after he was thrown from his boat.

On Sunday lunchtime, Barmouth RNLI’s inshore lifeboat launched in response to a call from HM Coastguard to a man who had fallen overboard from a small boat on the bar.

Two men, both from Fairbourne, had left at 9am for a morning’s fishing in their 19-foot vessel.

They were returning home in tricky conditions when the boat suddenly broached into a sand bar, throwing one of the men into the water.

His colleague took over the controls and tried to haul the man back aboard, but was hampered by the huge waves breaking in the shallow water.

He struggled to try and steer the boat into calmer water while still hanging on to his friend, whose waist-high waders had filled up with water making the rescue even more difficult, but he was eventually dragged back into the boat.

Neither man was wearing a life jacket, nor were there any on board, said the RNLI.

See the full story in this week’s Meirionnydd edition of the Cambrian News