A 27-foot yacht which sailed into double trouble yesterday (Monday) evening, caused the crew of Cowes lifeboat to put their planned exercise on hold.
The yacht had lost power off East Cowes when a mooring line became wrapped around the propeller.
Anchor dropped
To stop it drifting into a shipping lane the father and son aboard dropped the anchor – a seemingly sensible action that was to lead to unforeseen consequences.
When the lifeboat, alerted by Coastguards, arrived at the scene they found that a Royal Yacht Association boat had already arrived to assist.
Permission to cut the anchor line
Although preparations were then made for the lifeboat to tow the yacht to Cowes, there was another problem to overcome: all efforts to raise the anchor were unsuccessful.
The only solution, decided lifeboat helm Ady Stothard, was to obtain the permission of Portsmouth Queen’s Harbour Master for the anchor chain to be cut loose and left on the sea bed.
Back to station by 9.30pm
The yacht, which was based at Portsmouth, was towed to Trinity Landing, and the lifeboat which had been at sea for two hours, returned to station at 9.30pm.
News shared by George on behalf of Cowes RNLI. Ed
Image: © RNLI/Andy Miles
