A 27ft yacht that sailed into double trouble caused the crew of Cowes RNLI lifeboat to put their planned exercise on hold yesterday evening (Monday).
The yacht lost power off East Cowes when a mooring line became wrapped around the propeller. 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 arrived at the scene they found that a Royal Yacht Association boat had already arrived to assist.
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.
The yacht, which was based at Portsmouth, was towed to Trinity Landing in Cowes.
Cowes Lifeboat, which had been at sea for 2 hours, returned to station at 21:30.
