A brand new ocean racer had to summon help after it’s mast broke in a gusty south-westerly between Egypt Point and Gurnard this afternoon (Sunday).
The 30ft ‘Acheron’, with 5 men and 3 women on board, was participating in a Cowes Week race at the time of the incident just off the Cowes coast. The Acheron could not revert to engine power for fear of trailing rigging becoming entangled in the propeller.
Shortly after 15:00 Cowes RNLI were tasked to the scene alongside neighbouring independent Hamble Lifeboat. The yacht was towed to a buoy off Cowes by Hamble Lifeboat, where Cowes RNLI lifeboat crew member Piers Tyler went aboard to help clear the rigging. Later the yacht was towed to Cowes Yacht Haven by a Cowes Harbour launch.
Today’s incident concludes what has been a busy week for the volunteer crew of Cowes RNLI, notching up more than 8 hours on the Solent over 3 shouts.
The first shout involved the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s catamaran, Twin Wakes, which came close to sinking on Tuesday while acting as a committee boat for the Island Sailing Club’s J111 world championships, as previously reported by Island Echo.
The second shout of the week concerned a small yacht called ‘Shanghai Lil’, with 2 women aboard, which had gone firmly aground on the Bramble Bank on Friday, whilst on passage from Hamble to Cowes.
Despite major attempts by Cowes RNLI lifeboat to refloat the yacht, it remained stuck fast and it was finally arranged for the women to be taken back to Hamble by Hamble Lifeboat to collect a winch to lift the retractable keel. However, by the time the lifeboat and the women returned the yacht had refloated on the rising tide, allowing the lifeboat to then tow it to Cowes.
Yesterday the lifeboat was tasked to the yacht ‘Desert Wind’, with 3 men aboard, which had suffered steering gear failure off Gurnard Ledge. After catching up with the yacht close to the mainland, shore lifeboat crew member Andrea Vaughan went aboard with a tow rope. Eventually the casualty vessel was towed to a safe mooring off Cowes by a Cowes Harbour launch.
Lifeboat helm Laurie O’Callaghan said:
“It was fairly close to going aground near Beaulieu River when we arrived on the scene which could have presented more serious problems”..
The crew member singled out for special praise in relation to the Twin Wakes drama was Alasdair Boden, helm at the time. Fellow crew member Gratia Scott-Oldfield said:
“He did some awesome driving between ourselves and the Calshot and Bembridge boats, firstly to get me onto Twin Wakes and then to ferry Bembridge crew members and their bulky pump to the catamaran.”
