Yacht adrift off Lizard Point towed to safety in Falmouth

A yacht sitting motionless off Lizard Point, its power gone and the shoreline getting closer, handed the Lizard’s relief lifeboat its very first job on service on Saturday afternoon.

A Pan Pan south of Lizard Point

The relief Tamar class lifeboat RNLB Mollie Hunt had not yet launched on service from the Lizard station until Saturday 18th July, when a launch request reached the duty Launch Authority. Crew pagers sounded at 3.49pm, and under the command of duty Coxswain Darren Thirlaway the lifeboat launched at 4.15pm.

The tasking was to reach a yacht with two people on board, roughly 1.5 nautical miles southeast of Lizard Point. The occupants had put out a Pan Pan call for assistance, but communication between the yacht and Falmouth Coastguard had broken down, so the reason for the call stayed unclear until the crew arrived on scene. Neither person on board needed any medical help.

📷Photographs: The Lizard RNLI & Stacie Nicoll

Becalmed, with a failed alternator

A full assessment of the vessel followed. The crew found that the yacht had become becalmed, and its alternator had failed, leaving it with no way to move under its own power. Its position was the concern. The yacht was drifting close to the shoreline, so Darren and the crew decided to tow it to the nearest and safest port, Falmouth.

📷Photographs: The Lizard RNLI & Stacie Nicoll

A tow into Falmouth, and a familiar sight

With a line attached, the tow got under way, and the lifeboat and yacht reached Falmouth harbour at 7.25pm. After a short refreshment break for the crew, the lifeboat headed back to Kilcobben Cove, arriving at 9.44pm. She was rehoused, refuelled and ready for service again by 10.22pm.

There was one poignant detail waiting at the end of the run. As the crew brought the yacht into Falmouth, RNLB Rose could be seen moored up in the harbour.

📷Photographs: The Lizard RNLI & Stacie Nicoll