A fishing expedition into the Solent aboard a 23ft motor cruiser ended up with 3 anglers catching an unexpected but welcome tow from Cowes RNLI lifeboat.
After landing just a single bass off Egypt Point, the 2 men and a woman aboard the motor yacht were unable to restart their engine.
The lifeboat launched at 15:40 yesterday afternoon (Sunday) and after arriving on the scene found the boat’s water pump had failed.
A tow commenced and took the casualty vessel up the River Medina to the boat’s mooring at The Folly.
The lifeboat returned to the lifeboat station at 16:50.

















































































The use of the word Stranded, when referring to a boat or person onboard, means left aground on a shore.
Also there is no Yacht in the photo.
When using a VHF ship to shore radio you use the terminology ‘Yacht’ even if your a powered craft without sails.
I am guessing Gungadin has not passed a vhf radio operator’s proficiency exam otherwise he would have been aware that the generic name used by the MCA for any water craft is indeed “vessel”.
The term yacht is used only for sailing vessels in order to clarify its configuration to assist with things such as identifying a casualty vessel being searched for..
Sorry to contradict Paul Smith but stranded is indeed an appropriate adjective to describe a vessel at sea that has lost its means of propulsion. Grounded or beached would be more appropriate for the circumstance he describes.
If he disagrees then I suggest he provides what word he sees as being appropriate.
Ivor, didn’t you ever get told that Solent sailors are a little bit snobby – QHM and all that. I’m a North Sea sailor that passed my VHF G22/02 module for DSC Radio in June 2007. We refer to everything under 10 meters as a Yacht (Must be a local protocol) I’ve heard the same terminology used for powered vessels as far South as Newhaven. I have only ever stood by as a vessel on the silent to an array of dis- masted yachts in a force 7/8 when on an RYA instructors vessel referred to as Yacht when I raised a similar question.
Isn’t it something that’s down to the individual description details, not that I dispute your comment.
Ivor, didn’t you ever get told that Solent sailors are a little bit snobby – QHM and all that. I’m a North Sea sailor that passed my VHF G22/02 module for DSC Radio in June 2007. We refer to everything under 10 meters as a Yacht (Must be a local protocol) I’ve heard the same terminology used for powered vessels as far South as Newhaven. I have only ever stood by as a vessel on the silent to an array of dis- masted yachts in a force 7/8 when on an RYA instructors vessel referred to as Yacht when I raised a similar question.
Isn’t it something that’s down to the individual description details, not that I dispute your comment.
Simplest solution for Gungadin would be for him to spend some time listening locally to communications between Solent Coastguard and other vessels on the channel designated for emergency and initial contacting purposes. Having passed his competency tests he will be aware which one that is. (Please don’t mention the number or the coastguard will likely get even more hoax calls). He will find that Solent Coastguard operators will make general broadcasts using the prefix “All Stations” but when communicating with a particular vessel they will ask questions like “What is your vessel’s callsign ?”