Juan Twothree
Well-known member
From the Swanage Lifeboat website:
Swanage’s all weather lifeboat ‘George Thomas Lacy’ was requested to launch this afternoon when a 40’ yacht taking part in the Fastnet race issued a ‘Pan Pan’ urgency call. The yacht’s crew reported hitting something followed by an ingress of water and requested assistance. The yacht’s pumps were initially coping with the water ingress but the situation could worsen very quickly so the lifeboat crew were paged and were soon on their way to the yacht’s last known position. The yacht had reversed its course and was now heading back towards the Solent but the lifeboat caught up with them just over 30 minutes after launching. The yacht’s pumps were still coping with the water ingress so the lifeboat agreed to escort them in to the Solent where the plan was to hand over the escort to Lymington lifeboat once they were nearer to Lymington. Unfortunately the plan had to change quickly as the water ingress suddenly got worse as the boats approached Lymington river. The lifeboat’s powerful portable salvage pump and two crew were quickly put aboard and the water ingress was stabilised. The yacht was then taken to a boat yard for an emergency lift to get it out of the water. Once the yacht was lifted clear of the water the damage to the yacht’s keel was obvious. With the situation resolved the lifeboat was released to return to Swanage.
Swanage’s all weather lifeboat ‘George Thomas Lacy’ was requested to launch this afternoon when a 40’ yacht taking part in the Fastnet race issued a ‘Pan Pan’ urgency call. The yacht’s crew reported hitting something followed by an ingress of water and requested assistance. The yacht’s pumps were initially coping with the water ingress but the situation could worsen very quickly so the lifeboat crew were paged and were soon on their way to the yacht’s last known position. The yacht had reversed its course and was now heading back towards the Solent but the lifeboat caught up with them just over 30 minutes after launching. The yacht’s pumps were still coping with the water ingress so the lifeboat agreed to escort them in to the Solent where the plan was to hand over the escort to Lymington lifeboat once they were nearer to Lymington. Unfortunately the plan had to change quickly as the water ingress suddenly got worse as the boats approached Lymington river. The lifeboat’s powerful portable salvage pump and two crew were quickly put aboard and the water ingress was stabilised. The yacht was then taken to a boat yard for an emergency lift to get it out of the water. Once the yacht was lifted clear of the water the damage to the yacht’s keel was obvious. With the situation resolved the lifeboat was released to return to Swanage.
