The busy summer continued for Ramsey’s Mersey class RNLI lifeboat, the RNLB Ann and James Ritchie, when she was launched on Saturday morning, 24th August, to go to the aid of a yacht with a broken rudder and steering failure.
The 34 foot fin keel yacht with two people on board was on passage from Whitehaven to Douglas and was about 10 miles east of Maughold Head when the rudder became detached. The skipper made a radio distress call to Liverpool Coastguard who immediately requested the launch of Ramsey Lifeboat. The lifeboat, under the command of Coxswain Mark Kenyon, launched at 10:00am and proceeded towards the distressed vessel.
In the meantime, another Whitehaven yacht in the vicinity, it too on passage from Whitehaven to Douglas, also responded to the distress call. This yacht took the broken down yacht safely in tow and set a course to intercept with that of the lifeboat.
The lifeboat and yachts converged approximately 8 miles ESE of Maughold Head where the tow was transferred to Ramsey Lifeboat. The assisting yacht was thanked for its help by the skipper of the broken down vessel and resumed its journey to Douglas. The lifeboat plus tow proceeded to Ramsey Harbour. The casualty was safely moored in the harbour at around 13:00 and Ramsey Lifeboat and her volunteer crew returned to station. No one was hurt in the incident which occurred in fine weather and fair sea conditions.
The summer of 2013 has been notably busy for the Island’s lifeboats and volunteer crews. The RNLI charity reports that throughout the UK, Ireland and the Isle of Man, July 2013 was the busiest since July 2006 for its lifeboats and volunteer crews, with call-outs up by more than one third compared to 2012.
