The sort of drama and uncertainty of tomorrow’s famous Round the Island Race came a day early for one couple, obliged to summon urgent help when their yacht was in danger of drifting on to rocks.
The 29ft Spellbound, with an Sussex couple on board, had been on passage from Lymington to Cowes when it suffered engine trouble west of Newtown Estuary. With insufficient wind for the couple to switch to sail, and under-sea rocks getting ever closer, the couple sent out a distress call.
Cowes RNLI lifeboat was tasked to go to their aid, and on arrival at the scene found that Spellbound had already been taken in tow by another yacht.
The tow was taken over by the lifeboat which took the yacht to East Cowes Marina, where hopes were high that Spellbound would be fully repaired to take its place in the starting line-up off Cowes tomorrow morning.
The lifeboat was launched at 06:30 – the same start time as tomorrow’s race – and returned to station at 08:39.
