The yacht, Stravaiger of Tarbet, had attempted to send a Pan Pan message to let the coastguard know of her predicament but found that due to her lack of electrical power she was not being heard. The crew then sent up a red parachute flare and waved a white handheld flare on the deck to attract the attention of other vessels. The coaster Dormun responded and relayed their distress message to the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre at Pendennis Point, who then alerted the Falmouth lifeboat.

The Falmouth RNLI volunteer crew manned their All Weather lifeboat and launched at 8:40 am heading out on a course of South Sou’west of Falmouth to affect a rescue. By 10:15 am they had covered the 37 to 40 miles to the stricken yacht and set about rigging a tow. Then began the painstakingly slow task of towing the vessel through seas with a 2-3 metre swell and rising winds the 40 miles to Falmouth. At just after 3:00 pm the lifeboat together with her tow passed Pendennis Point, and 30 to 40 minutes later the yacht was safely moored up in Pendennis Marina.

The skipper of the yacht said: “I’m extremely grateful to the Falmouth RNLI for getting us out of the predicament we were in. We had no power, no engine and our sails were torn. It was not a good prospect we faced, being 40 miles out in the channel, with no engine, no power, no navigation lights and no means of calling for help. My two crew were brilliant but there was nothing we could do.” The skipper and his crew, who are all members of the RNLI, now intend to remain in Falmouth until they can get the engine fixed, power restored to the batteries and the sails mended before continuing on their voyage to the west coast of Scotland.

Notes to editors
• The crew for the lifeboat on this mission were: Mark Pollard (Coxswain); John Blakeston (2nd Coxswain); Dave Proud (Mechanic); Andrew Angove; Carl Beardmore; Tom Napper; and Claire Angove.