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July 8 Yacht with broken rudderIn blustery conditions, with south west winds gusting up to force 7, the all-weather lifeboat launched to a 7m sloop, with three people onboard, whose rudder had broken in the squally conditions and had lost all steerage. As the ALB headed out of the harbour the lifeboat had to manoeuvre between the Condor ferry, which was heading into the harbour, and the Barfleur ferry, heading out of the harbour to Cherbourg. Fortunately the skipper onboard the yacht was able to radio their position so the lifeboat crew knew it was 15 miles to the east of the station in Christchurch Bay. It took the lifeboat just over an hour to reach the casualty, which had anchored in the 1m swell to avoid being blown ashore.
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Once on scene the crew checked that the three people onboard were okay before passing over a bridle and tow rope, which the skipper was able to secure to two cleats on the outside of the stanchions of the pulpit. With the lack of steerage from the broken rudder the skipper then struggled to lift his anchor as the yacht was yawing from side to side. When the anchor was finally secured on deck the lifeboat crew then threw a casualty drogue for the skipper to trail off the stern of the yacht to ease the uncontrollable motion. Conditions in the Bay were still rough with winds gusting up to 40mph so a decision was made to tow the yacht to Lymington Yacht Haven. The tide was flooding and the south westerly near gale force winds meant that the conditions were favourable in the same direction as our tow. With 6 miles to Lymington or 15 miles back to Poole (and the skipper was originally heading to the River Itchen in the Solent) it was felt that it would be both safer and quicker to take the yacht and three people to Lymington. Once around the headland at Hurst Castle the conditions eased and the ALB was met by Lymington Atlantic 75 inshore lifeboat. Poole lifeboat continued the tow until the entrance of Lymington River where the inshore lifeboat took over the tow of the extremely grateful yacht crew. The ILB then carried out an alongside tow into Lymington Yacht Haven while Poole lifeboat returned back across the Bay to Poole Harbour. It was a day of many rescues – at the same time Yarmouth lifeboat was out on a rescue and Coastguard Rescue 104 helicopter was scrambled to a yacht with a person onboard with a head injury. The heavy conditions on the return meant that it took the lifeboat 1½ hours to reach the station – with the constant 1m swell and breaking waves and conversations about remedies for seasickness, one of our trainee crew members had their first experience of heading for the door and the rail before throwing up their breakfast – there hadn’t been time for the crew to have their lunch! The lifeboat returned to station at 1600 and was refuelled and cleaned by 1645. Free JavaScripts provided by The JavaScript Source
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