Yacht with four on board rescued near Fastnet Rock lighthouse
Lifeboat Was To Coordination From Valentia After Based Castletownbere Assist Rnli Cork The 6am West Yacht Shortly Receiving An Launched The Centre Coastguard Alert Rescue Maritime After
A 32-foot yacht with four people on board was rescued after it lost its ability to manoeuvre three miles south of the Fastnet Rock lighthouse on Saturday.
The Castletownbere RNLI lifeboat was launched shortly after 6am to assist the West Cork based yacht after receiving an alert from Valentia Coastguard Maritime Coordination Rescue Centre.
The lifeboat, under the command of coxswain Dean Hegarty, located the broken down vessel at 7:15am, about half a mile off the Fastnet Rock lighthouse.
Mechanic David O'Donovan and crew Joe Cronin, Donagh Murphy and William Power were on hand to assist.
Weather at the scene was described as "very calm" and the four sailors on board were safe and well.
As the yacht was experiencing mechanical and electrical difficulties, a decision was made to tow the boat back to safety as it "posed a potential navigational hazard" to other vessels.
Castletownbere lifeboat towed the yacht to Long Island in Roaring Water Bay, and then passed over the tow to the Schull Coast Guard rib which brought the yacht safely into Schull Harbour.
The lifeboat left the scene at 8:10am, returned to Castletownbere, and was refuelled and ready for service again by 9:05am.
The duty launching authority, Brendan O'Driscoll, praised the sailors on board for seeking assistance at an early stage as the yacht was located in a busy shipping lane and could have posed a serious hazard to others.