By Gabrielle Swan
THE crew of Donaghadee lifeboat was involved in a dramatic mid-Irish Sea rescue of the crew of a yacht last weekend.
In the dark, 25 miles from shore and being battered by strong winds and over three metre seas, the local RNLI crew was part of a major emergency services operation launched to save three sailors whose vessel lost its mast on Friday night.
The all-weather lifeboat was asked to launch in the early hours of Saturday morning by Belfast Coastguard after an emergency beacon was activated approximately 25 miles south east of Donaghadee.
The all weather lifeboat from Peel, in the Isle of Man, was also launched in response to a signal from the emergency position indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) along with the Irish Coastguard helicopter from Dublin.
The Coastguard’s Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC), at Bregenz House in Bangor, also put out a MAYDAY relay broadcast and a large cargo vessel named Romandie, bound for Dublin, responded and headed for the position of the distress beacon.
A short time later a second distress beacon alert was received, this time from a personal location beacon (PLB), close to the position of the signal from the EPIRB which prompted the launch of a second helicopter, this time from a UK Coastguard base in Wales.
The Romandie soon located a 37 foot yacht with three people on board which had been de-masted in strong winds and was disabled and drifting about with the rigging banging of the yacht’s side.
Peel lifeboat arrived on scene and an RNLI crew member was put on board the yacht and confirmed the two identification numbers of the beacons, which allowed the MRCC to stand down the helicopters.
While the Romandie stood off nearby, providing a lee for the lifeboats to work in, Christopher Stewart, a crew member from Donaghadee lifeboat, went on board the stricken yacht to help cut away the rigging and mast.
The volunteer crew member of seven years, Christopher said it was necessary to cut away the tangled rigging to make the stricken vessel safe to tow back to the Isle of Man.
““The conditions were pretty rough, with force five winds and a moderate to rough sea state of three to four metre waves,” said Christopher.
“When we arrived, we saw that the vessel had dismasted, the mast snapped in half and a lot of the rig and sails were in the water. It was requested that we put myself on the casualty vessel, along with a member from Peel,” he added.
When Christopher got onto the yacht he and the other crew member from Peel checked on the welfare of the shaken crew. “They were happy enough to see us arrive, apart from being a bit in distress because of the mast,” he said.
“It was a bit of a relief that we weren’t looking for anybody in the water. Then it was just a question of making the boat safe to tow.
“At one-point helicopters had been asked to come out, but when they were able to confirm that the two distress signals were coming from the same casualty vessel, and that everybody was counted for, they stood down.
“We tried to see if we could salvage any of the rig or sails, but it was a bit of a mess with stays, lines and ropes everywhere. So we had to cut the stays away, clearing ropes to make the boat safe for a tow.
“It probably took us an hour-and-a-half in very testing and difficult conditions,” said Christopher. “The boat was lurching forwards, backwards and sideways, but we managed to get the job done.”
Once the yacht was free of rigging it was towed back to the Isle of Man by the Peel lifeboat, which took four-and-a-half hours.
Philip McNamara, the coxswain of Donaghadee Lifeboat coxswain, said it was a challenging operation.
“Our crew member Chris Stewart was on board the yacht along with a Peel lifeboat crew member,” he said. “I commend their hard work in challenging conditions dealing with the collapsed mast and rigging to make the yacht seaworthy.
“We were happy to provide whatever support was needed for Peel to complete the rescue; our intensive and regular training prepares the crew members for incidents such as this.”
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