A 100-year-old yacht
had to be rescued on Wednesday after its mast collpased three miles southwest
of Lizard Point.

Ruth’s skipper contacted Falmouth Coastguard after the vessel’s wooden mast
broke, sending the rigging and sails overboard.

The Lizard’s Tamar
class all-weather lifeboat went to the aid of the yacht, which had four crew on
board.

Once at the scene, it
was clear that the mast was far too big and heavy to get put back onboard the
boat.

In addition, the
lifeboat crew were concerned that if the boat’s engine was started, the rigging
may foul her propeller.

As a result, a towline was set up and it took more than four hours to bring the vessel into Falmouth
Harbour, where she was placed on a mooring.

Lizard lifeboat
station mechanic Dan Atkinson, said: “Ruth is a lovely old wooden Baltic
Trading vessel. Her main mast collapsed and the master had no other option but
to give the coastguard a call for assistance.

“We set up a line on
board and towed her steadily to Falmouth.”

This was the second
incident in three days that the Lizard lifeboat had to deal with after
assisting a 33ft fishing vessel with a damaged propeller on Monday.

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Picture credit: RNLI