A Cumbrian lifeboat crew were involved in a nine-hour mission to rescue a yacht.
Volunteer crew from the RNLI’s Barrow Lifeboat Station launched their all-weather lifeboat last night to rescue a yacht that had lost power and was drifting in rough seas.
The crew were activated at 8.45pm following a request from the regional HM Coastguard base in Holyhead. The information received was that a 37-foot (11.2 metres) yacht with two people on-board had lost power at a position west of Seascale, 30 miles from Barrow.
The Barrow lifeboat, ‘Grace Dixon’, was launched at 9.07pm under the command of Coxswain Shaun Charnley assisted by a crew of six. It was estimated that it would take some 90 minutes for the lifeboat to reach the scene.
The casualty vessel had drifted in the strong south-westerly wind from its original reported position and was in danger of being taken on to rocks off St. Bees. The crew of the yacht made another call to the coastguard and requested to be taken off their vessel.
As a result, Coastguard Rescue Helicopter 936 was deployed from Caernarfon and headed towards the area. At 10.40pm the Barrow lifeboat arrived at the scene which was now about one and a half miles southwest of St. Bees.
The Coxswain assessed the situation and decided that taking the yacht under tow was the safest way to assist those on-board, the yacht’s twin masts and the sea state making any attempt at an airlift extremely hazardous. The helicopter did, however, remain on scene to illuminate the yacht.
A tow line was established between the lifeboat and the yacht and a slow passage to Whitehaven was commenced. At 4am, the stricken yacht was towed into Whitehaven and secured alongside the marina pontoons. The lifeboat was then able to begin the passage back to Barrow.
The ‘Grace Dixon’ was safely back at the Barrow lifeboat station at 6.30am, over nine hours after the start of the rescue. The lifeboat was rehoused by the slip crew who had returned to the boathouse and the lifeboat was made ready for the next launch.
