A lifeboat volunteer is celebrating 20 years of saving lives at sea.

Lee Blacknell, who is second coxswain at Newhaven RNLI, has been presented with his 20- year long service medal having achieved the impressive milestone earlier this summer.

During Lee’s long years of service he has launched on more than 415 shouts.

And with exercise and service launches combined, he has amassed more than 2,270 hours of experience afloat.

Some shouts have been extremely sad and others less so with one incident seeing the crews tackle a floating hot tub.

“To be on a shout in the middle of winter in a howling gale and driving sleet, searching for a man overboard, when crew are seasick, wet and cold and yet, after 12 hours of searching, our volunteers still want to stay out and find that person,” said Lee.

“It’s a powerful need to do the best you can. Rough weather, the rougher the better. That’s what I enjoy, it’s what keeps me thinking and enthused.”

Lee’s approach to working the lifeboat is one of respect for weather and sea. He remembers one challenging situation which was a call to a sailor no longer in command of his yacht who was heading for the cliffs.

“We launched to a single-handed sailor. His head had been struck by the boom. He was being blown on to a lee shore and was very close to Seaford Head in lumpy seas,” said Lee.

He helmed the lifeboat alongside and down sea of the yacht to gently nudge the course of the vessel out to sea.

“That was easier said than done with eight metres of mast swaying like a joust at the flying bridge, but we managed to manoeuvre his course safely seaward," he said.

At this point, two crew prepared to transfer to the casualty vessel but one of them fell into the water. Eastbourne lifeboat launched as well as a coastguard helicopter.

The Newhaven crew member was safely recovered from the water and the transfer successfully executed. The sailor was winched up to the helicopter and the lifeboat towed the yacht back to harbour.

“It was a crazy shout,” said Lee. “We must try and turn what Mother Nature throws at us to our advantage, not fight it.”

Roger Cohen MBE, lifeboat operations manager, said: “This is a commendable milestone in our station’s history. Thank you Lee for your commitment and assisting the team in our endeavours to save lives at sea.”