Lowestoft RNLI Lifeboat called to Dutch yacht with rope around propeller
Two sailors on a yacht that had sailed from the Netherlands needed help from Lowestoft lifeboat crew when a rope fouled its propeller.
The volunteer crew of Lowestoft RNLI Lifeboat were called from their beds at 4.37am to go to the aid of the eight-metre yacht which was stranded off the Suffolk Coast.
Second Coxswain Karl Jackson said, “We launched our all-weather lifeboat ‘Patsy Knight’ and located the yacht three nautical miles North, North–East of Lowestoft. The two-man crew on the yacht told us that unfortunately a rope had become wrapped around their propeller meaning their auxiliary engine was disabled. They had managed to sail to within sight of their intended destination but without an engine they would not have been able to safely navigate through the pierheads at Lowestoft."
"We assessed their situation and with no commercial help available and as they were in a busy shipping lane, the safest action was to tow the yacht into the harbour. We connected a tow rope and brought the yacht around the sandbank and into the Stanford Channel. The harbour entrance was a bit choppy, but we successfully moored the visiting vessel in the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club at 6.30am.”
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Richard Grange, RNLI Regional Communications Lead for North East and East England, 07483 112015, [email protected]
RNLI Press Office, 01202 336789, [email protected]
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