St Mary’s RNLI tows yacht into Scilly after throttle breaks

Two sailors thought they could nurse their yacht the last few miles into the Isles of Scilly on the wind alone. The sea, and a dying breeze, had other ideas.

A broken throttle, and a decision to sail on

The RNLI crew at St Mary’s Lifeboat Station were paged by Falmouth Coastguard at 7.15pm on Saturday 8 August, sent to a yacht around five nautical miles south east of St Mary’s with two people on board.

The yacht had reported to Falmouth earlier in the day that their throttle control had broken. One of the two crew was starting to suffer with sea sickness, but at that point they were happy to keep sailing in towards the Islands, some 12 nautical miles out.

Why the lifeboat launched

The plan held while the wind did. As the yacht worked its way towards the Islands the breeze dropped away, slowing their progress and leaving the boat to wallow in the swell. With the second person on board now feeling the effects too, the Coastguard decided to launch the lifeboat.

The crew arrived on scene and assessed the situation. One crew member was put aboard the yacht to help the two sailors stow the sails, then to take the tow line the lifeboat crew had been preparing on board.

Towed in, then anchored off

The yacht was towed into St Mary’s Pool. With every mooring in the harbour already taken, it was anchored up just outside the harbour for the night.

This was Shout 15 of 2026 for the station. The volunteer crew on the call were Pete Hicks, Dan May, Chris Jenkins, Dan Moulson, Andrew Hicks, Ollie Glenn and Arran Humphries, who went aboard the yacht.

📷Credit: MarineTraffic / St Mary's RNLI Lifeboat Station