Yacht rescue in harbour

LIFEBOAT crews braved atrocious weather conditions and Force 10 winds to rescue a sailor in Dartmouth Harbour.

The Torbay lifeboat rounded Berry Head through winds gusting to more than 50 knots to get to the 45ft yacht Sea Brigand, which was dangerously out of control at anchor.

The alarm was raised by the 66-year-old skipper of the yacht who issued cries for help when the jib of his boat started to unfurl.

The Sea Brigand was swinging wildly at anchor and the sail could not be fully controlled by either the skipper or the RNLI Dart inshore lifeboat crew, which was first on the scene.

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The Torbay all-weather lifeboat was called and joined forces with the inshore crew to bring Sea Brigand safely to the visitors' pontoon at Darthaven.

Dart lifeboat crewman Darren Hopley said: "We launched in the middle of the night in screaming wind to help the gentleman."

He added: "When the Dart crew arrived the skipper, a 66-year-old man who had sailed from the east coast of Ireland, was on the foredeck trying to stop the jib unfurling further and was in danger of being thrown into the water in the strong winds and driving rain."

Darren and another crewman boarded the yacht to help him but the jib could not be furled. The real danger was that the yacht was swinging wildly on her anchor chain and coming closer to other vessels as the tide fell.

Darren said: "We tried what we could to secure it but it was too windy and the Dart boat was not big enough to deal with it on our own so we called out the all-weather lifeboat.

"They came through Force 10 winds at 17 knots which is pretty impressive. They set up alongside and we worked together to secure him safely."

The incident happened in the early hours of Friday, October 5. Mark Criddle, coxswain of the Torbay lifeboat crew, said: "The weather conditions were poor to say the least and the winds touching 57 knots around Berry Head.

"Usually it would take us 20 minutes to get to Dartmouth but I think it took about three quarters of an hour because we had to be careful.

"We came alongside the yacht and pulled up the anchor and put him safely on the marina."