Barrow Lifeboat Responds to Yacht in Difficulty
Barrow RNLI’s volunteer crew launched their All-Weather Lifeboat yesterday afternoon to go to the aid of a yacht in the East Irish Sea.
The request for assistance was received from HM Coastguard in Holyhead at 5.30pm on Wednesday afternoon. The Coastguard requested Barrow Lifeboat to be launched to go to the assistance of a yacht, 25 miles west of Fleetwood, with one person on board. The yacht was reported to have broken down and was unable to make any progress under sail. The Coastguard tasked the lifeboat with assessing the situation once on scene.
The crew was paged and the all-weather lifeboat, Grace Dixon, was launched at 5.58pm under the command of Coxswain, Jonny Long, along with a crew of six. The Coastguard had issued a “Pan-Pan” radio message to nearby vessels and the offshore support ship, Grampian Fortress, responded and was asked to standby the casualty vessel until the lifeboat arrived. The Grace Dixon reached the scene at 6.48pm whereupon the crew made an assessment of the casualty and determined that the safest course of action was to take the yacht under tow to Fleetwood, being the nearest suitable location.
The tow was established and the passage to Fleetwood was completed at 10.30pm where the tow was then handed over to our volunteer colleagues at Fleetwood who used their inshore lifeboat to manoeuvre the yacht to a safe berth.
The Barrow lifeboat returned to the Boathouse shortly after 11.00pm where it was met by the waiting shore crew and made ready for the next launch. During the shout which lasted around six hours, the lifeboat crew were treated to the sight of a pod of dolphins playing in the water nearby.
The weather at the time of the incident was good. The wind was north-westerly Force 1. The next high tide was due at 0.39am (Thursday) with a predicted height of 8.5 metres.
Key facts about the RNLI
The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,700 lives.
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