St Bees and Workington RNLI in joint rescue.

The RNLI volunteers launched on Monday morning in challenging conditions to assist a sailing vessel that had engine problems on their approach to Whitehaven Marina. Volunteers from the neighbouring lifeboat station at Workington were also paged and launched their all-weather lifeboat.

Despite the worsening visibility the RNLI crew from St Bees quickly located the sailing boat. As soon as the volunteer crew had established that the yacht was not in any immediate danger and that the crew on board were all ok, the decision was made to remain with the vessel until the arrival of the larger lifeboat from Workington. With the arrival of the Shannon all-weather lifeboat, the latest in the RNLI fleet of lifeboats, it was decided the best course of action was for the Workington lifeboat crew to remain with the casualty vessel until the tide was high enough to allow them to tow the yacht safely into the marina. With the situation under control the smaller Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat then returned to St Bees to be refuelled, washed down and made ready for the next shout.