RNLI Jersey tasked to Mayday from French yacht

The distress call was made by the daughters of the skipper of the yacht who had been taken ill. The yacht had suffered a problem with its foresail and the skipper was reported as unwell and unable to sail the yacht into St Helier. Weather conditions were challenging with a heavy swell and winds gusting up to a force 6.

The mayday incident resulted in Condor Voyager diverting to offer assistance. The Condor Voyager was in the vicinity en route to St Malo and the Condor crew were able to launch their rescue boat and transfer their crew aboard to assess the situation and provide immediate casualty care. The RNLI's all weather lifeboat, George Sullivan, arrived on scene some 30 minutes later and transferred two crew across to the casualty vessel to relieve the Condor crew.

A casualty assessment was conducted and, once it had been established that the skipper of the French yacht was not in immediate danger, the decision was made to sail the yacht back to St Helier under a reduced sail area. The sea conditions meant that it was considered not safe enough to try and transfer the casualty crew back to the all-weather lifeboat.

Meanwhile, the Condor Voyager resumed its journey to St Malo.

The George Sullivan and the casualty vessel arrived in St Helier harbour just before 10pm. The volunteer crew then refuelled the lifeboat and prepared for her next launch.

Gibby Gordon, Coxswain for the incident said: "This was a great example of multiple vessels working together to help manage a mayday situation. We are extremely grateful to Condor Voyager and her crew who were first on scene and able to provide immediate assistance. Our volunteer crew were then able to take over and provide ongoing casualty care and help manage a successful outcome for this family."

Press release ends

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