Barrow RNLI Launched to Assist Stricken Yacht
Volunteer crew from the RNLI’s Barrow Lifeboat Station launched their all-weather lifeboat late yesterday evening to go to the aid of a yacht south of Haverigg.
The call for assistance came through from the regional HM Coastguard base in Holyhead at 9-45pm. The information received was that a 33-foot (10 metre) yacht with three people on board had lost steering and had run aground at a position given as one and a half miles south of Haverigg.
The crew was paged and the all-weather lifeboat, ‘Grace Dixon’, was launched at 10-08pm under the command of Coxswain, Shaun Charnley, assisted by a crew of six. The lifeboat headed to the scene where it rendezvoused with Haverigg Inshore Rescue Team who had towed the casualty vessel, which had also started to lose power, into deeper water. At 11-20pm the tow line was passed from Haverigg’s rescue craft to the ‘Grace Dixon’, and the stricken yacht was taken under tow back to Barrow. With a passage of around 15 miles to cover, it was shortly after 1-30am (Sunday) before the vessels arrived in Barrow. The casualty vessel was placed on a mooring in Walney Channel so that repairs could be undertaken in due course.
With the yacht and its crew safe, the ‘Grace Dixon’ was winched back into the Boathouse and made ready for the next launch. The slipway and inshore lifeboat crews remained at the lifeboat station throughout the incident which was finally closed out at around 3-00am this morning.
The weather at the time of the incident was fine with good visibility and the wind was south-westerly, Force 2. High water was at 1-43am with a predicted height of 8.5 metres.
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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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