UPDATED: Cowes RNLI have responded to a mayday call reporting an unconscious sailor on board a vessel on the Solent this afternoon (Friday).
The volunteer lifeboat crew were tasked to launch at 16:23 after Solent Coastguard received a mayday call from a yacht reporting that a crew member was unconscious.
Coastguard Rescue 104 helicopter has also been involved in the shout, circling the incident several times before standing down.
The lifeboat has safely brought the sailor and yacht into Trinity Landing, where the casualty has in the last few minutes been transferred to an awaiting ambulance and conveyed to St Mary’s Hospital, Newport.
UPDATE @ 19:00 – It has been confirmed that a man in his 30s has sustained a serious head injury after he was violently thrown onto a winch handle by a taut rope whilst carrying out gybe exercises just outside Cowes Harbour.
In addition to the casualty unconscious and profusely bleeding onto the deck of the Sunsail 4014, it was then found that the yacht could not proceed to shore under its own power because a rope had fouled the propeller. However, the yacht was successfully taken in tow by a passing rib skippered by Robbie Southwell, son of operations manager of Cowes RNLI, Mark.
As the yacht was being towed to Trinity Landing, the lifeboat launched and proceeded to the pontoon, where crew member Dr Will King went aboard the Sunsail yacht to give medical assistance.
