Bear Grylls rescue

Born Survivor Star helps out RNLI with a little demo

TV survival-expert Bear Grylls usually shows people how to get out of trouble, but on at the end of the Cowes Week sailing competition last week he was being rescued by lifeboats in a safety demonstration for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

Grylls, who was the youngest Briton to climb Mt Everest in 1998 aged 23 is planning a new adventure to sail through the Arctic, and was meeting his sponsors at the Isle of Wight sailing event.

While there he helped out the RNLI and Maritime and Coastguard Agency by playing the role of a sailor in trouble at sea. In a small inflatable boat, Grylls let off a distress signal of orange smoke and soon afterwards the Coastguard rescue helicopter flew in and lowered a winch to lift Grylls onto the lifeboat, which took him back to port.

Grylls said the RNLI was one of the leading rescue organisations in the world. “Their bravery, initiative and dedication saves many, many lives every year.”

The demonstration was a far cry from the extreme “survival demonstrations” Grylls can be seen doing on his now globally popular TV shows, such as eating raw zebra meat or Yak’s eyeballs.

Cowes Week is a world-renowned sailing regatta held on the Isle of Wight every year in August, and it’s official chosen charity this year was the RNLI. The survival demo was organised by Andrew Ashton, RNLI Divisional Inspector, who said he was pleased to have arranged for Grylls to take part. “This allowed our crews to show the public what they do and how we work with the Coastguard to fulfil our fundamental aim of saving lives at sea,” he said.