This in from Cowes RNLI, in their own words. Ed
Cowes RNLI spent two and a quarter hours on the Solent yesterday with two different emergencies involving yachts.
Just after 2pm Coastguards requested the lifeboat to track down a yacht in the western Solent which was transmitting a digital distress message.
The cause was found to be the 35 foot Beneteau yacht Starck Naked with an equipment fault off Newtown Creek. The couple on board was requested by the lifeboat’s helm, Matt Chessell, to switch it off.
Then soon after this incident the lifeboat was tasked by Coastguards to go to the aid of the 38 foot yacht Mosquito, off Hillhead. It had radioed it had a steering problem, which meant it could only go to port and was drifting near the shipping channel.
Because of in-operability of the rudder the lifeboat towed the yacht across the Solent to the entrance of Cowes Harbour, where the yacht received further assistance from a Cowes Harbour launch. The yacht, with four people on board, was finally moored in Shepards Wharf Marina.
