Accidents involving two crew members aboard an ocean racer in the Solent this afternoon led to an urgent Mayday call to Solent coastguards.
The yacht, the Florence Agnes II, was in mid-Solent between Gurnard and the mouth of Beaulieu River when the two incidents occurred.
One crew member, suffering from a head injury, was initially transferred to the independent Hamble lifeboat.
Having been deemed in need of hospital treatment he was then lifted aboard the Coastguard helicopter from Lee on Solent.
Meanwhile Cowes RNLI lifeboat First Aider, Steve Price, went aboard the yacht to tend to the crewman who had been rescued from the sea. “Although he was in the water for only a few minutes he was still rather shaken,” said Steve. “But neither I nor the helicopter paramedic, briefly winched down to join me, considered his condition serious enough to warrant his evacuation as well.”
It was the fourth and most serious incident involving Cowes lifeboat since Cowes Week began on August 1. The lifeboat station is providing a volunteer crew afloat every day of the famous regatta.
