Volunteer crew from Teignmouth Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) launched a ‘one off’ exercise at the weekend to bid farewell to Falmouth Lifeboat Station’s 17-29 lifeboat.

Teignmouth’s Atlantic 85 lifeboat, Claude and Kath met Falmouth’s lifeboat, Richard Cox Scott, at Hope’s Nose on Saturday morning (February 1) before escorting it along the coast for a short while.

Falmouth’s 17-29 is the first Severn class lifeboat to retire after 23 years of service at Falmouth Lifeboat Station.

This was an ‘important moment’ in the RNLI’s history as ‘one of the iconic boats in the fleet reaches retirement’, commented Teignmouth lifeboat operations manager Andy Lilburn. ‘It was an honour for our volunteers to show their support to their fellow colleagues and escort them on their way,’ he added.

Falmouth Lifeboat station now has a state-of-the-art Shannon class to help them continue saving lives at sea.