Yacht ran aground in poor weather conditions near Penzance

At around 11pm on Saturday, May 4 both RNLI Penlee lifeboats, the all-weather Severn Class Lifeboat Ivan Ellen and the B class Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat the Mollie and Ivor Dent were launched by Falmouth Coastguard to a 10m single handed yacht which had grounded in poor weather conditions off Penzance promenade.

The Penlee ILB under the command of Helmsman James Roberts arrived on scene and managed to secure a line to the yacht despite the shallow water depth and poor conditions and the yacht, which had unable to re-float due to the onshore east wind, was pulled free of the rocks.

To help the elderly skipper the Penlee ALB put an RNLI volunteer onto the yacht who quickly told Coxswain Patch Harvey that the vessel was taking on a lot of water.

The Penlee ILB towed the yacht to Newlyn harbour where the Penlee ALB rafted alongside the yacht, towed it to a pontoon berth and transferred the salvage pump.

The yacht had suffered hull damage while aground and for the next two hours the yacht was pumped out every 20 minutes until nearer to high tide when it was towed to the north pier so it could dry out at low tide to assess the hull damage.

Both RNLI lifeboats returned to station at 2:15am Sunday morning to wash down and refuel in preparation for the next service.