Concerns for the welfare of a lone sailor on board a 40ft yacht off the coast of the Isle of Wight led to the launch of Yarmouth RNLI’s All Weather Lifeboat last night (Wednesday).
Volunteer crew members were mustered at 20:13 following a tasking from Solent Coastguard.
It took around 40 minutes for the Severn-class lifeboat to locate the yacht, which was sailing west towards Portland Bill some 6 nautical miles South West of The Needles.
Having made contact with the skipper, it was determined that the yacht had suffered a lack of power for machinery and navigation, but had just enough power for the navigational lights.
The sailor was happy to continue on his journey but was encouraged to establish regular welfare checks with HM Coastguard via mobile phone.
By 22:10 the lifeboat had returned to Yarmouth Harbour.
