Saturday afternoon, April 2, off the coast of Bergen aan Zee, a kitesurfer ran into trouble, clinging to his only flotation device (the kite sail) and deciding to let his board go.
The unfortunate kiter is spotted by the crew of the Reed and Jan van Wijk and taken aboard. Once on board, a few searches are made in search of the kiteboard; it is recovered not much later. At this, the lifeboat set course for the beach where it was met by the shore crew.
Once on the beach, the crew was thanked and the young man returned home safely. The lifeboat once again chose the deep blue sea and set course for Egmond. Around 5:30 p.m., the lifeboat was back in the boathouse and the rescuers looked back on a successful rescue.
The Riet and Jan van Wijk is the first lifeboat from the van Wijk class and will be passing various stations for extensive testing over the next few months.
As for Egmond station, the Reed and Jan van Wijk has passed its first test well ………. saving people !
