Barrow Lifeboat Station’s volunteer crew launched their inshore lifeboat early this morning to go to the aid of a fisherman who had become stranded on board a yacht in Walney Channel.
The call for assistance came from the HM Coastguard base in Holyhead, at 1:30am this morning.
The information received was that a man was stranded on board a yacht in Walney Channel, approximately 300 metres south of Jubilee Bridge.
The crew was paged and the inshore lifeboat, ‘Vision of Tamworth’, was launched at 1:50am with Jonny Long at the helm, assisted by Andy Baxter and Saul Tomlin.
In rough sea conditions the lifeboat proceeded to the scene, heading north along Walney Channel. It was understood that the yacht was without power and unlit, but the lifeboat crew successfully located the vessel and transferred the fisherman to the lifeboat.
The fisherman was then taken to the Ferry Pitchings, north of Jubilee Bridge, where he was placed in the care of the Furness Coastguard team who were also in attendance.
It transpired that the fisherman had boarded the yacht from a kayak which had subsequently broken free from the yacht and drifted away, leaving him stranded. At the request of HM Coastguard, the lifeboat undertook a search of the area in an attempt to locate and recover the kayak, but nothing was found.
The lifeboat returned to the boathouse at 3:15am where it was washed down and made ready for the next launch.
The weather at the time of the incident was clear with squally showers. The wind was from the west, Force 7-8 and the high tide had passed at 1am with a height of 8.8 metres.
