[T]he volunteers at St Bees RNLI were paged at 7:45am on Saturday 1 September to a 30 foot catamaran with one person on board.
The yacht had suffered engine failure off St Bees Head.
The RNLI volunteers Saturday morning lie in was cut short when they were requested by Belfast Coastguard to go to the aid of a sailing vessel that had suffered engine failure and a fouled rudder.
After a brief search, involving Belfast and Whitehaven Coastguard and the shore crew of St Bees RNLI, the stricken vessel was located about six miles from Whitehaven. Just before 9:00am St Bees lifeboat came alongside the yacht and a crew member was sent on board the vessel to establish a tow line. The catamaran was then successfully towed into Whitehaven Harbour by St Bees lifeboat ‘Joy Morris MBE’ where they were met by members of Whitehaven Coastguard.
Dick Beddows St Bees RNLI Operations Manager said: “Its been a quiet few months for our volunteers but when their pagers went off they all responded quickly to help the unfortunate yachtsman.”
