The 36 foot yacht Giselle, en-route from Holyhead to Cardiff, became totally becalmed last Saturday whilst heading south in the recent glorious weather. The husband and wife crew resorted to engine power in the calm conditions. However after a few hours the engine failed after a discarded fishing net became wrapped around its propellor.
HM Coastguard were contacted and communications were maintained whilst the yacht was becalmed. The crew hoped for the wind to pick up through the night but by dawn there was no change to the benign conditions so after drifting for more than 12 hours the Coastguard requested the Fishguard RNLI all weather lifeboat to assist the yacht with a tow into Fishguard harbour early on Sunday morning.
The ALB launched at 8am and soon had the yacht under tow in mirror -calm conditions. Once in the harbour a commercial diver was arranged to remove the fouling net. The yacht owner, Sqd.Ldr Steve Cox, a serving pilot with the RAF said “Although we were never in any danger, the professionalism and service provided by the RNLI and Coastguard was superb and we cannot thank them enough.” After a good rest the couple ventured on to its destination of Cardiff Bay.
