4:20pm Thursday 5th November 2009
A QUIET couple of weeks for the Coastguard in Barry ended on Tuesday when the pagers went off at 5pm, with a report of two windsurfing boards washing around the Old Harbour area.
The Barry Dock RNLI Lifeboat was also tasked to search for the missing windsurfers in the darkness.
The Coastguards scoured the shoreline from Jacksons Bay to Porthkerry Park with no sign of anyone having left a car or van unattended whilst sailing.
The search was then hampered by the falling of a tree across the causeway to Barry Island, preventing access around the Old Harbour.
After a thorough search at sea the Barry Dock Lifeboat was stood down, and the Police Helicopter was asked to search, using it's FLIR heat sensitive camera, to see if they could detect anyone around the coast.
After three hours a member of the public confirmed that he had seen two youths abandon their equipment and head inland, so the search was called off.
A spokesman for the Coastguard said: "The boards are available for collection by the owners, and the Barry Coastguards can be contacted via Swansea Headquarters on 01792 366534.
"If the people had telephoned the headquarters to say they had abandoned their equipment, then several thousands of pounds could have been saved in the wasted use of time, resources, and manpower.
"But the main thing is that the people are safe."
For all coast emergencies, dial 999 and ask for Coastguard.
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