Sailor rescued from damaged yacht during stormy weather

HM Coastguard helped rescue a sailor from a damaged yacht © RAF

HM Coastguard was involved in the rescue of a sailor from the Atlantic Ocean over the weekend, after his yacht lost its mast in stormy conditions.

The Coastguard's Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) received two distress beacon alerts from the yacht 700-miles west of Ireland Friday evening (14 October).

The vessel had extensive damage and was drifting in very poor weather conditions.

Thanks to the two beacons onboard however, the Coastguard was able to locate the yacht and begin the search and rescue mission.

A request was made to the RAF to deploy two aircraft, which identified the stricken yacht using coordinates provided by the JRCC, at around 8.20am Saturday.

At the scene, the aircraft provided communications with the vessel. At the same time HM Coastguard was broadcasting to all shipping within 300-miles and three vessels responded, altering their courses to intercept the yacht.

After four unsuccessful attempts by another merchant vessel overnight, the survivor, an American national and experienced sailor, was rescued just after 6.30am on Sunday (16 October) by motor tanker Amax Anthem.

Rob Priestley, JRCC Commander, said:

"This was a lengthy and complex search and rescue mission coordinated by the JRCC. We'd like to pay tribute to the excellent seamanship and skill of the crew of the Amax Anthem and the Patricia V and to thank other vessels for responding - this was a challenging rescue in difficult conditions.

"The involvement of the RAF aircraft was also a crucial element of this operation. Because the sailor was carrying two emergency position indicating beacons (EPIRBS) we were able to inform the RAF where the vessel would be. The signals from the EPIRBs were the only means we had of knowing where the sailor was and that he was in distress. All other communications methods had been destroyed during the event that led to his dismasting.

"One of the most important elements of this incident was the two EPIRBs. Without these we would not have known that the sailor was in difficulty, let alone where he was. I'd really encourage anyone who sets to sea to carry an EPIRB and to register it with their national authority - in the UK that is HM Coastguard. An up to date registration means we have additional information to help with any rescue that's required."