Yacht taking on water is 4th call in 24 hours for Poole volunteers
Crew were at the station swapping equipment from our Atlantic 85 B-826 Sgt Bob Martin (Civil Service No. 50) to a relief lifeboat, as Sgt Bob was due to leave us for a few weeks for a refit (and a well earnt rest) at the Inshore Lifeboat Centre (ILC) at East Cowes, when the pagers rang.
At 11.45am (Wednesday September 12) UK Coastguard launched the lifeboat to a report of a 10 metre yacht taking on water and sinking in Studland Bay.
The volunteers, quickly turned the boats around, on-board the relief boat ‘John and Louisa Fisher', B-870 they made their way to the stricken vessel. The yacht with two people on-board had been on passage from Plymouth to Southampton when they hit the rocks off the end of Old Harry. Conditions in Poole Bay were fairly flat with a south westerly wind 3.
The lifeboat was quickly on scene and checked that the occupants were okay and transferred their salvage pump on-board with the yachts own bilge pump keeping the ingress of water at bay. There was vibration through the propeller shafts that was also hampering the vessels progress.
The lifeboat escorted the vessel back to Salterns where an emergency lift had been requested.
Once the vessel was safe and being checked out ashore, the lifeboat returned back to station, after refuelling, the lifeboat was ready for service by 2.15pm.
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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