12 rescued from dismasted yacht in the Solent

The crew of a 40-foot dismasted yacht, which had rigging trailing in the water, were rescued at the weekend by the Gosport & Fareham Inshore Rescue Service (GAFIRS).

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Rescuers came to the aid of a stricken 40-foot yacht on 1 October, 2016, when it dismasted while sailing in the Solent.

The vessel, which had 12 people on board, had rigging trailing in the water.

The Gosport & Fareham Inshore Rescue Service (GAFIRS) was tasked to assist by the UK Coastguard.

A second yacht which had seen the drama unfold, at around 3pm, had called the Coastguard to warn them of the incident.

Dismasted yacht in the Solent rescued by GAFIRS

The dismasted yacht. Credit: GAFIRS

Gosport independent lifeboat, which was afloat training at the time, heard the distress call and was sent to help.

GAFIRS coxswain, Brian Pack, said: “When we arrived on the scene a RIB was helping the vessel.”

“After we had ascertained that no one needed any medical attention we took over the tow from them and took the casualty yacht to Trinity Landings in Cowes,” he continued.

“Because of the challenging conditions in The Solent this took around an hour, but we eventually managed to get all the crew back to shore safe and well,” added Pack.

Dismasted yacht in the Solent rescued by GAFIRS

The dismasted yacht is towed to Cowes. Credit: GAFIRS

In total, the rescue lasted two hours.

It was the GAFIRS’ 98th incident of 2016.

GAFIRS is an independent lifeboat station, staffed entirely by volunteers who are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.