Yard in a spin over lifeboat test

The Tamar class lifeboat has self-righting capability

A new Cornish lifeboat is to undergo safety trials at a Devon dockyard.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution's new Tamar-class boat for Padstow will be capsized on purpose to make sure that it rights itself.

The lifeboat is being fitted out at Devonport Dockyard by DML before being delivered to Padstow in July.

The controlled capsize is done on all of the RNLI's offshore fleet. After the test, the boat can then begin its sea trials in earnest.

The 31.5 tonne, 52ft (16m) long vessel should be in action by the summer, working out of a new boat house which is currently being built.

It will have a crew of up to seven people, a top speed of up to 25 knots (28.8mph), and on-board computers.

There have been more than 16 lifeboats in four boathouses at Padstow since 1827.