Night Shift Call Out to Stricken Yacht
Dunbar’s volunteer lifeboat crew had a late night call out in thick fog to assist a broken down yacht drifting in the North Sea on Tuesday (June 16).
UK Coastguard paged for RNLI help at 11.20pm after receiving a call that the 12 metre Sally Belle yacht was stranded without power 22 miles east of Torness.
Dunbar’s all-weather lifeboat (ALB) launched from Torness Power Station and reached the vessel shortly before 1am. A tow was quickly set up and the crew made their way back to Dunbar Harbour, taking special care in poor visibility.
The crew, which is currently using a relief boat Edward Duke of Windsor until its own Trent class John Neville Taylor returns to service after maintenance, arrived back at the harbour at 5am and, after guiding the yacht to a safe berth beside the ALB, returned to Torness where it was refuelled and made ready for service at 5.30am.
Gary Fairbairn, coxswain for Dunbar’s RNLI Lifeboat, said: “Given the fog conditions we couldn’t take any chances but we succeeded in towing the yacht to safety without incident.”
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.
Learn more about the RNLI
For more information please visit the RNLI website or Facebook, X, TikTok and YouTube. News releases, videos and photos are available on the News Centre.
Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries
Members of the public may contact the RNLI on 0300 300 9990 (UK) or 1800 991802 (Ireland) or by email.