A lifeboat coxswain is hanging up his lifejacket after more than 420 rescues and decades with the RNLI.

St Davids RNLI Coxswain Dai John joined the RNLI at the age of 18.

He is now retiring and handing over the reins to Will Chant, who has been a volunteer with St Davids RNLI for more than 25 years.

Will will become St Davids’16th coxswain. His father Mike was the 13th coxswain and his great-great uncle, Henry Rowlands, was also a crew member

Henry tragically lost his life on the lifeboat in the 1910 Gem disaster.

Will’s brother who is currently the mechanic at St Davids Will has been a volunteer with the charity for more than two decades.

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One of his notable rescues took place in August 2019, when there was a climber in difficulty in the water near Porth Clais harbour.

Will jumped in untethered to prevent her drowning, saving her life.

RNLI area lifesaving manager Roger Smith welcomed Will to his new role saying: “He brings a wealth of operational command experience to the role from his time as a volunteer coxswain and helm, and commands wide respect amongst his peers”.

Retiring coxswain, Dai John also has a long family tradition with the RNLI. He joined the charity in August 1986 at just 18 years old.

Since then, he has been involved in more than 420 rescues.

One of these was the Yves Marie Amil rescue in December 2004 when three fishermen were rescued from a burning trawler at night, in near gale force winds and a rough sea.

In March 2008 he was coxswain for the rescue of the 111-ton trawler Western Belle and her five crew in a 14-hour rescue.

The vessel had suffered power failure 32 miles out to sea at night and in gale force winds and a very rough sea.

The trawler was towed to Milford Haven and during the rescue the tow line parted three times and had to be reconnected. Dai says that this was one of his most memorable rescues.

Dai was honoured by the RNLI for both these recues.

The change at the helm will happen on July 7.