Barrow lifeboat called after yacht loses power

The request for assistance was received from HM Coastguard at 6.35pm on Friday evening, for the lifeboat to be launched to go to the assistance of a 8.2m yacht, 3.5 miles north-west of Rossall Point, Fleetwood. The yacht, with two crew on board, had lost engine power and was drifting further out to sea. The volunteer crew of Barrow lifeboat were tasked with attending to assess the situation once on scene.

The crew were paged and the all-weather lifeboat, Grace Dixon, was launched at 7.10pm under the command of Coxswain, Shaun Charnley, along with a crew of six. The lifeboat reached the scene at 7.45pm and established that the vessel was on passage from Glasson Dock to Barrow. The lifeboat crew assessed the situation and due to the yacht having no power and no means of navigating to safety with the weather forecast to worsen, it was determined that the safest course of action was to take the yacht under tow.

The tow was established and the passage to Barrow was completed at 9.30pm with the stricken yacht placed on the casualty mooring adjacent to the lifeboat station. The Grace Dixon lifeboat was then rehoused by the waiting shore crew and made ready for the next launch.

Barrow Lifeboat Press Officer, Chris Clouter, said:

‘Under normal circumstances, the casualty vessel would have been towed into Fleetwood, being the nearest suitable and safe location, but this would have necessitated waiting several hours for the next high tide. The weather was predicted to deteriorate through the evening and so the decision was made to tow the casualty vessel to Barrow, the yacht’s original intended destination.’

The weather at the time of the incident was overcast. The wind was west north-westerly Force 2-3. The next high tide was due at 1.48am (Saturday) with a predicted height of 8.6m.

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