A busy weekend for lifeboat volunteers at Yarmouth continued early on Monday morning after a yacht was spotted drifting off The Needles.
Yarmouth’s Severn class all-weather lifeboat, Eric and Susan Hiscock (Wanderer), was tasked to launch by HM Coastguard on Monday 31 May 2021 at 7.10 am to a boat that had been spotted drifting off the Needles.
H.M. Coastguard had also received reports from a dog walker that a yacht had been seen drifting in the Needles channel.
The lifeboat's crew located a 40ft sailing yacht aground on the shingle bank, two nautical miles south west of Hurst Point.
In order to get close enough to assess the situation the lifeboat’s smaller ‘Y’ boat was deployed with two RNLI crew members on board.
There were no visible signs of damage or water ingress and none of the yacht’s crew were injured.
As the tide was still ebbing and conditions were calm, Yarmouth RNLI decided to return to harbour as it would be several hours before the casualty could be refloated.
Yarmouth RNLI’s Severn class lifeboat relaunched at 9.20am and returned to the casualty’s position so they could stand by ready to ensure the boat would refloat safely.
As the tide began to rise, it remained too shallow for the all weather lifeboat to manoeuvre too close to the shingle bank.
The ‘Y’ boat was launched with the intention of attempting to tow the bow of the casualty round.
After several unsuccessful attempts, Yarmouth lifeboat’s coxswain took the decision to call for assistance from Lymington RNLI’s inshore lifeboat.
Even though the tide was rising, the yacht was struggling to refloat and needed assistance to be pulled clear of the shingle.
Lymington RNLI’s ‘B’ class lifeboat was eventually able to tow the casualty clear and the boat was refloated at 12.20pm, more than five hours after going aground.
Having been refloated, the yacht and her crew made the decision to continue with their planned voyage.
Yarmouth RNLI’s coxswain, Howard Lester, said:
"It is important when planning a passage to take account of the weather forecast, tides and navigational hazards."
Yarmouth lifeboat returned to her berth and was ready for service at 12.46pm.
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