Llandudno’s RNLI all-weather lifeboat was launched early on Saturday morning (24 September) to bring to safety a yacht in difficulty some miles off the North Wales coast.
The skipper of the 30-foot Athena had radioed Holyhead Coastguard to request assistance when the yacht’s propeller became fouled during a passage from Liverpool to Puffin Island at the entrance to the Menai Straits. At the time, the Athena, with four men on board, was some three miles north-west of Great Orme’s Head, and continuing to make some headway under her mainsail alone.
Llandudno’s RNLI crew was called out at 6.08am, and the station’s all-weather lifeboat Andy Pearce launched from the resort’s north shore at 6.28am, reaching the casualty at 6.50am. The lifeboat crew quickly rigged a towline, and the yacht was taken to Conwy, where she was safely berthed in the marina. The lifeboat returned to Llandudno at 9.10am.
An RNLI spokesman said: “Despite the early hour, we were glad to help them out. Their boat was well-found with a competent crew – it was just one of those unfortunate things, which sometimes happens at sea.”
As the lifeboat was being recovered at the slipway, Holyhead Coastguard requested the station’s inshore lifeboat be launched to search for a swimmer reported to be in difficulty at the Craigside end of the north shore. Launching at 9.20am, the inshore boat crew carried out a detailed search of the area, but found nothing amiss. It was decided the report had been a false alarm with good intent, possibly through the informant having mistaken a diving bird for a swimmer, and the lifeboat returned to station at 9.30am.
