Ryde Inshore Rescue were tasked to reports of 2 men in a dinghy drifting some 1.5 miles off the coast of the Isle of Wight yesterday evening (Monday).
Solent Coastguard paged the volunteer lifeboat crew at 20:20 to locate and assist the duo, who after 12 hours of sailing – with no wind and engine failure – were getting nowhere in their 15ft vessel.
Ryde Rescue 1 took them under tow for some 50 minutes to their sailing club at Hillhead on the mainland, where they were safely recovered.
The lifeboat returned to Appley via Gosport for fuel and all crew left the station just after 23:00.
