St Ives and Padstow RNLI lifeboat crews assist yacht

The crew of St Ives RNLI were paged at 7.20pm following a distress call from a yacht 30 miles north of St Ives. A 42-foot sailing yacht with four people on board suffered engine failure and was struggling to make speed with just a sail on their journey to Ireland.

St Ives all-weather lifeboat Nora Stachura was launched and took the vessel under tow. The yacht could not be taken back to St Ives Harbour as there was no appropriate mechanical support available there to repair it, so the volunteer crew headed for Padstow.

At 10.05pm, the volunteer lifeboat crew at Padstow launched the all-weather lifeboat to meet the vessel 12 miles west of Trevose and take the tow from the St Ives lifeboat. The crew recovered the yacht safely to Padstow Harbour.

Upon leaving the harbour the Padstow crew were contacted by a fishing vessel reporting an injury to one of their crew. The lifeboat crew returned to the harbour to administer first aid and arrange for an ambulance to attend.

The volunteer crew returned to Padstow lifeboat station at 3.15am.

Padstow RNLI Coxswain, Alan Tarby, said: ‘It was great to work with St Ives RNLI and see their fantastic Shannon class lifeboat in action. Great team work and we are glad we could be there to help.’

After more than five hours at sea, St Ives RNLI volunteer lifeboat crew arrived back at the station at 1am.

Key facts about the RNLI

The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.

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Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries

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