St Marys RNLI rescues two French sailors after yacht runs aground off St Agnes

It was just before 1am when a weak Mayday started coming through on the VHF. What followed was a launch into a full gale, a yacht stuck fast on a sand bar, and two French sailors who would end up spending the night with the residents of Gugh.

A weak signal in the early hours

The pagers at St Marys RNLI Lifeboat Station went off at 0050 on Saturday the 6th of June after a weak Mayday signal was picked up on VHF from a French yacht.

As the crew gathered at the boathouse, the Coastguard came through with more detail. The yacht sending the Mayday was aground in The Cove, St Agnes, in what had become a full southerly gale.

Conditions made it impossible to reach from The Cove

The lifeboat launched and made best speed round to the cove. Conditions there were poor, with breaking waves, driving rain and reduced visibility. The search lights struggled to pick out much through the rain, but in a brief gap the yacht could be seen well aground on the sand bar.

There was nothing the crew could do from The Cove. With no Coastguard team on St Agnes, there was no one who could go down to the bar to investigate.

A different way in

So the lifeboat passaged back around St Agnes and into the shelter of Per-conger, where the quay is. From there the Y boat was launched and two crew went ashore to check on the people aboard the yacht.

The two sailors were fine. They had kit from the vessel, and the residents of Gugh were already there, one of whom spoke fluent French, which helped.

The yacht had been tied to a local mooring but had dragged it all ashore. In grounding it had broken the rudder off and damaged the prop shaft.

Stood down

With the sailors safe, the lifeboat crew returned to the Y boat and back to the lifeboat, and the lifeboat was stood down.

R924 from Newquay had also been tasked, but was stood down once it came through that the vessel was aground and the sailors were safely ashore.

The crew on the shout were Dan May, Dan Moulson, Richard Mills, Lee Sandford, Eldred Banfield, Arran Humphries and Archie Hicks.

The Gugh residents took the sailors in for the night after the ordeal, and also took the picture of the incident.

📷Picture taken by the Gugh Residents