Early-morning Mayday call signals start of busy day for Kyle RNLI volunteers as lifeboat crew attend two groundings near Applecross and at Duirinish
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MEMBERS of a Ross-shire lifeboat crew were paged twice within a matter of hours today after two separate grounding incidents.
The busy day for the volunteer crew at Kyle RNLI started in the early hours of this morning.
They first launched at 12:40am to a report of a yacht aground in Applecross.
Kyle lifeboat Spirit of Fred. Olsen launched after the Mayday call in the Applecross area, triggered after a yacht lost all electrical power, dragging its anchor and ending up aground on rocks.
After battling rough conditions, the lifeboat arrived on scene at 1am, and with the assistance of another nearby yacht, managed to locate the casualty vessel which was completely in darkness.
A crew member was put onboard the yacht to assess the situation and make sure the people on board were not injured.
The lifeboat then managed to tow the yacht free, and the crew managed to recover the dragging anchor onto the vessel.
It was established that there was no major damage or water ingress. Although the yacht’s engine was running, there was no other electrical power meaning they had no navigation equipment or lights. It was decided the safest course of action was for the yacht to follow the lifeboat back to Kyleakin harbour.
At 3:30am the yacht was safely escorted into the harbour and the lifeboat returned to the station at 3:45am.
Twelve hours later at 3:51pm the pagers sounded again. This was after a 7-metre rigid inflatable boat with five people and a dog on board broke down in the Duirinish area and drifted onto the rocky shoreline.
The lifeboat arrived on scene at 4:15pm and managed to attach a tow to the casualty vessel before proceeding slowly through rough seas towards Kyleakin harbour. At 5:15pm they arrived in Kyleakin where a local UK Coastguard unit was waiting to assist.
With the vessel secured and all persons and the dog safe, the lifeboat was then stood down and returned to station where it was refuelled and made ready for service by 5:40pm.
