COUNTY NEWS: RNLI saves sinking yacht in rainy rescue

The RNLI helped to save a 12-metre yacht which was sinking off the West Sussex coast.
Pictures taken by the Selsey RNLI team show the dramatic rescue of a 12-metre yachtPictures taken by the Selsey RNLI team show the dramatic rescue of a 12-metre yacht
Pictures taken by the Selsey RNLI team show the dramatic rescue of a 12-metre yacht

The volunteer crew at Selsey RNLI lifeboat station were paged at 3.35pm on Wednesday after the yacht Seaweed declared a Mayday stating they were taking on water and sinking fast.

The people aboard the Seaweed said they were heading towards the coast, and the ‘Denise and Eric’ lifeboat launched at 3.45pm with a crew of six and hastened towards their location.

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At just after 4pm, the lifeboat arrived at the scene, three miles south west of Selsey Bill, and a lifeboat crew member got on board the yacht to assess the situation.

Pictures taken by the Selsey RNLI team show the dramatic rescue of a 12-metre yachtPictures taken by the Selsey RNLI team show the dramatic rescue of a 12-metre yacht
Pictures taken by the Selsey RNLI team show the dramatic rescue of a 12-metre yacht

At this point, the water intake seemed to have stopped, and the yacht’s own pumps had reduced the water level considerably.

Further investigations showed that a water outlet pipe was not connected to a pump, and when the vessel keeled over during

sailing this had become an inlet pipe for seawater.

After checking most of the water had been pumped out and the Seaweed was seaworthy, the lifeboat escorted the yacht to Chichester harbour.

The crew for this call was coxswain Martin Rudwick, mechanic Geoff Mellett, second coxswain Dave Lamdin, Will Moir, James Albrey and Andy Lee.

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