Hamble Lifeboat's high-speed rescue craft carried out more than 70 mercy missions in the Solent area over the last year.

Figures just released show the 24-hour all-year service, which is manned by unpaid volunteers, responded to 74 calls from HM Coastguard.

The number of calls was well below record levels but the service, which is entirely funded by grants and donations, still remains one of the busiest in the country.

Coxswain/mechanic Colin Olden said calls for medical assistance were well up this year but welcomed the trend which saw fewer call-outs, indicating a more responsible attitude from leisure and other water users.

He added: "You still see the stupid things. With the modern technology there is either nothing wrong or it is horrendously wrong.

"As usual, we had a couple of people caught out by weather conditions again - including one man who tried to sail a catamaran single-handed from Hamble to Gosport in a seven to gale eight wind. We rescued him and brought him back to Hamble."

Biggest job of the year came in August when a rigid inflatable boat returning from the annual Cowes Week fireworks display hit an unlit buoy in Southampton Water off Hamble's Westfield Common at around 50 knots.

The driver and one passenger were thrown into the water and the impact almost broke the vessel in half.

"When we got to the scene we had two people clinging to the buoy. One had facial injuries and there were five other injured persons on board," said the coxswain/mechanic.

One of the most unusual jobs of the year came in April when Hamble Lifeboat went to the aid of a yacht aground off Egypt Point on the Isle of White in fairly heavy weather. A Canadian Coastguard hovercraft that was undergoing trials had provided initial assistance.

In July, the Hamble rescue craft was scrambled when three children, all aged under 14, were spotted paddling an Indian-type canoe in the main shipping channel off Hook Buoy.

"Conditions were force five to six and we couldn't get alongside them because we would have swamped them. We stayed with them and escorted them back to Calshot," said Mr Olden.

The same month the rescue craft also plucked a kite surfer to safety after he was spotted swimming in the main shipping channel, trying to catch his kite.

Other calls ranged from breakdowns, capsizes, several yachts aground on The Brambles and engine fires in motor cruisers to rescuing windsurfers in difficulties and a lengthy search for two missing 12-year-olds who were later found safe ashore at Calshot.

Main aim in the new year will be for the service to fit out its new high-speed craft and improve facilities at its ageing boat house.

Earlier this year, the service was given £100,000 by 75-year-old spinster Joan Hurrell towards the cost of a new lifeboat to replace the high-speed St Andrew IV rescue craft, which has been in use since 1991.