Barrow Lifeboat Station’s volunteer crew launched their all-weather lifeboat this afternoon to go to the aid of a yacht attempting to head to Fleetwood from Barrow.
The request for assistance came from the HM Coastguard base in Holyhead, at 3:40pm. The Coastguard had received the request for help from the crew of a 16 foot yacht approximately one mile south of Walney Lighthouse. The yacht, with four people on board, reported that it was in difficulty due to the strong wind and high tide.
The crew was paged and the all-weather lifeboat, ‘Grace Dixon’, was launched at 3:50pm under the command of Coxswain, Jonny Long, assisted by a crew of six.
A Barrow RNLI spokesman said: “The lifeboat proceeded at full speed to the scene and was quickly alongside the casualty vessel. The crew of the yacht were found to be all fine and as a precaution the lifeboat escorted the yacht back to a mooring at Roa Island.
“The lifeboat returned to the boathouse at 4:50pm where it was cleaned and made ready for the next launch.
“The wind at the time of the incident was north-westerly, Force 5, and the high tide had passed at 3:02pm with a height of 9.2 metres.”
