Ryde Inshore Rescue diverted from a training exercise to go to the assistance of a yacht with a broken engine last night (Monday).
At around 20:30, Solent Coastguard tasked Ryde Rescue 1 to respond to a Pan Pan from a 32ft yacht off Lee-on-Solent.
The casualty vessel was en-route to Hamble Point Marina from Eastbourne when it suffered an overheating engine due to a failure of the water pump.
The yacht’s crew declared a Pan Pan in good time as the skipper knew he would have problems making his way into Hamble River and onto his pontoon without an engine.
Ryde Rescue’s coxswain decided that as the yacht was happily under sail, the lifeboat would escort the vessel up Southampton Water until a point near Hamble. A hip tow was then established to take the yacht up the River Hamble to the mooring.
Ryde’s lifeboat crew have described the situation as not being one of the easiest of tasks with an ebbing tide, wind gusting Force 5-6 and plenty of rain. It’s unusual for Ryde Rescue to be present in the Hamble area of Southampton with 3 other lifeboat stations nearby.
With the yacht safely alongside and the skipper and 2 crew glad to on dry land after 12 hours at sea, Ryde Rescue was released from the incident 22:15 and returning to station at Appley.
Editor’s footnote: time of publication adjusted from 16:38 to 15:19 in the interests of homepage prominence
