A lone sailor had to be evacuated from his yacht Monday morning by the RNLI after getting caught on rocks in a precarious position.
The sailor of the 29ft yacht was sailing from the west coast of Scotland down to the Bristol Channel and had anchored in the area overnight after sailing from the Isle of Man, to rest before continuing his journey. Overnight he was alerted to the fact his vessel had come off her anchor and had drifted onto rocks.
The RNLI all-weather from Holyhead was requested to launch and arrived at the location at 02:30 in the morning.
The yacht was spotted with her stern end firmly on the rocks, and it was realised immediately that the man needed to be evacuated and brought onto the lifeboat as the boat was listing. The smaller daughter craft (Y boat) was launched from the all-weather lifeboat to get closer to the yacht and evacuated the person. The lifeboat headed back to the safety of Holyhead, returning at 4.40am, where the man was able to rest at the lifeboat station for a while.
A decision was made to await the higher tide later in the day, and to retrieve the yacht in more appropriate conditions. Crew reassembled for the second time a few hours later and the all-weather-lifeboat was launched at 8.30am, and once again headed back to the area. The casualty vessel was beginning to refloat, and so a tow was able to be established, and the lifeboat and yacht then made way back to Holyhead Marina, arriving back just before 1pm. The salvage pump was then used to remove the water that had been ingressed by the casualty vessel, which was found to have a hole in her bow.
Holyhead RNLI coxswain Tony Price said: “This was an excellent team effort by all concerned, for a true seamanship service. The man was a very well equipped and experienced sailor, who correctly raised the alarm as soon as he realised the trouble he was on. We were relieved to find him safe and well, and to bring him on board our all-weather lifeboat.”
