Byline: Margate RNLI’s all-weather lifeboat has come to the aid of a motor yacht which encountered machinery problems in shipping lanes off the north Kent coast.
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The alarm was raised early yesterday morning (Friday 19 August) when a 31ft motor yacht with one person on board contacted coastguards to say they had broken down close to the busy Princes Channel shipping lane around ten miles north west of Margate.
Margate RNLI’s all-weather lifeboat was tasked to assist and once on scene checked on the welfare of the solo yachtsman. The craft was taken under tow for the three-hour journey to Ramsgate harbour where, once inside the harbour itself the yacht had sufficient power to secure itself alongside a pontoon.
Ian Lowe, Deputy Launching Authority, Margate RNLI said: ‘This solo yachtsman made his own vital initial steps to his safe rescue by having a marine VHF radio, the ability to provide an exact location using GPS and by noting navigation marks adjacent to him. His preparation enabled a prompt rescue minimising the time he was vulnerable to passing large vessels restricted in their ability to pass him in the narrow channel to which they are confined.’
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RNLI media contacts
· Peter Barker, RNLI Margate Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer 07974 064304 peter_barker@rnli.org.uk
· Tim Ash, RNLI Public Relations Manager (London/East/South East) 0207 6207426, 07785 296252 tim_ash@rnli.org.uk
· Sophie Coller-Nielsen Press Officer (London/East/South East) 0207 6207416, 07824 416615 sophie_coller-nielsen@rnli.org.uk
· For enquiries outside normal business hours, contact the RNLI duty press officer on 01202 336789