Kilkeel RNLI bring two sailors to safety
Kilkeel RNLI launched at 10pm Friday 23 August 2019 to attend to the 10m yacht Villa Vilja with two persons on board which was on passage from Tromsoe, Norway to the Caribbean and had become stranded with a rope in the propeller.
In freshening conditions, the volunteer crew located the yacht seven miles north east of Kilkeel and with the yacht tossing about in the poor sea conditions the lifeboat helm brought the lifeboat safely aside and a crew member went on board in challenging conditions.
Having checked that all was well with the sailors a tow was established and the yacht was brought safely into Kilkeel harbour where the local Kilkeel Coastguard team ensured the yacht was safely and securely berthed at the pontoon.
John Fisher, Kilkeel RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager, said that ‘The transfer of a crew member to another vessel is a manoeuvre the crew often practice but with both boats being tossed about the transfer was particularly difficult but was managed, as usual, in a very safe professional manner and we wish the sailors a safe onward passage to the Caribbean.
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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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