
Yarmouth RNLI crews assist aground vessel on shingle bank.
Saturday 19 August saw Yarmouth RNLI called out to assist a 40ft sailing yacht who had found themselves stranded and unable to re-float without assistance.
Yarmouth RNLI crew pagers sounded at 5:24pm to the vessel with four persons onboard 3.5 nautical miles west of Yarmouth Harbour who had unfortunately found themselves stuck on a large shingle bank in the Solent.
Within minutes, the volunteer RNLI crew were on scene where they deployed their Y-class daughter boat so that they could get closer to the stricken vessel, assess the situation more closely and to see if any damage had been caused by the vessel running aground.
As it was nearing low tide and would take a couple of hours for the tide to turn and start flooding, which would have inevitably helped the vessel re-float naturally, the decision was made for Yarmouth RNLI to return to station, to then regroup and launch at a later time, and return on scene in the chance that the casualty vessel would require further assistance.
Yarmouth RNLI crews stood by at Yarmouth Lifeboat Station awaiting further information from HM Coastguard.
Whilst at the station, the casualty vessel was able to re-float, without sustaining any damage and was able to continue her passage unaided.
HM Coastguard then officially stood down Yarmouth RNLI and they were marked as ready for service at 8pm after the post recovery checks were made.
Notes to editors
· Photo attached – Yarmouth Y-Class alongside casualty vessel taken on the ship’s camera.
- Yarmouth RNLI Lifeboat 17-25 Eric and Susan Hiscock ‘Wanderer’ came into service in 2001, prior to that Yarmouth RNLI had an Arun Class Lifeboat 52-08 Joy and John Wade which was in service for 23 years.
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