A HANG glider pilot was rescued by lifeboat crews after crashing into rocks above a beach.

The pilot was seen hitting the rocks above Freathy beach on Tuesday afternoon (March 13).

Alerted by pagers, volunteers from Looe RNLI quickly launched both the charity’s inshore lifeboats.

The crew of the Atlantic 85 Sheila and Dennis Tongue II found the pilot on rocks above a narrow gully, with deep water either side.

They decided to use the smaller D Class inshore lifeboat Ollie Naismith to reach the man.

In southerly force 2 winds, helm Dan Margetts kedged the lifeboat into the gully - a skilled technique where a light anchor is used to help manoeuvre the boat into position.

One of the crew, Toby Bray, climbed up the rocks to check the pilot’s condition.

He found the man uninjured, so they both made their way down over the rocks onto the Ollie Naismith.

The pilot was taken to Portwrinkle beach where coastguard teams from Looe and Tamar were waiting to take him back to his launch site.

Lifeboat operations manager David Haines said: ‘Our volunteer crews practice kedging for this type of rescue where they need to control the lifeboat in confined spaces.’

Atlantic 85 crew: Matthew Jaycock (helm), Brian Bowdler, Arron Rix and Robert Deakin. D Class crew: Dan Margetts (helm), Toby Bray and David Jackman. Shore crew: Graham Rich, Chris Lewis, Nathaniel Rothwell and Paul Barley.