The crew found a boat washed ashore between Ladram Bay and Sandy Cove, after it had broken away from its mooring earlier in the week.

Both of Sidmouth’s lifeboats were in action this morning after finding a boat washed ashore.

Crewman Theo Burgess, Simon Vacher, Cameron Baker, Martin Barnard, Oli Farrand and Tony Martin were out on routine training at 9.30am this morning (Sunday) when they identified a small RIB at Hern Point.

The boat had a hole in the hull and a sponson punctured and was approximately 8ft long.

It was later discovered it had broken away from its moorings earlier in the week with no-one aboard.

The crew worked together to get the boat away from the beach, which is inaccessible by land and taken to Ladram Bay.

They were assisted by staff at the Kayak Shack who helped to winch the RIB up the beach.

Theo Burgess, who was at the helm, said: “Solent coastguard requested information about the RIB which we were able to relay to them with the assistance of the lads in Ladram and identified that the RIB had broken from its mooring earlier in the week and no persons were in trouble or unaccounted for.

“Solent tasked Exmouth Coastguard to take care of the RIB and both Sidmouth boats carried on with training.”