Swanage’s inshore lifeboat (ILB) was requested to launch this afternoon following a report from a member of the public. The first informant had contacted the UK Coastguard saying that they could see what they thought was someone stuck at the Northern end of Swanage Bay. They appeared to waving and flashing a light too. As the lifeboat crew were assembling at the lifeboat station a feint white light could be seen at the far end of Swanage Bay, the Coxswain was confident that this was the mast head light of a yacht that had moored at the Northern end of the bay earlier in the day. It was also low tide making it unlikely that someone would be cut off by the tide. However it was decided to launch the ILB anyway as a precaution. The boat was launched and did a sweep of the far end of the bay, with nothing but the yacht visible the UK Coastguard was updated and they were happy that it was a false alarm with good intent. The lifeboat was then released to return to station. If you do see someone in trouble or something that doesn’t seem right at sea we encourage you to call the Coastguard on ‘999’. We’d much rather turn out for a false alarm than not at all.