A yacht with two people on board that was taking on water was rescued by Dungeness lifeboat on Thursday morning, 1 June.
The UK Coastguard received a distress call from the 14 metre yacht, 7 miles east of Dungeness, at 7.30am. They alerted the Dungeness RNLI lifeboat, The Morrell, which launched at 7.50am.
Escalated to Mayday
The incident was escalated to a Mayday and a local boat and a Coastguard helicopter also joined the rescue operation.
When the lifeboat reached the yacht, they found out that the water leak was in fact from a freshwater system on board and not from the hull. The lifeboat crew stayed with the yacht until the leak was under control and then escorted it to a safe harbour.
Dungeness RNLI Coxswain, Stuart Adams, said: “The people onboard the yacht did the right thing in calling for help as soon as they saw the water leak. They had VHF radio to call the UK coastguard and also a mobile phone as a backup. This was particularly helpful on this occasion because the radio communications were poor, and we were able to contact the casualty by phone instead. This is why we always advise to take multiple means of communication as when going on the water.”
Volunteer
If you are interested in taking on a new challenge and becoming part of the charity that saves lives at sea, please contact the station on 01797 320317 or Dungeness@rnli.org.uk.