Lifeboats deployed to rescue grounded yacht near Selsey Bill

Lifeboats and Coastguard units were dispatched on Wednesday (September 29) after they received a 999 call from a member of the public describing what looked like a grounded yacht approximately 200 metres west of Selsey Bill.

A spokesperson for the Selsey Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) told how a Coastguard Rescue Team (CRT) were sent to assess the yacht and found it had floated off the bank, just east of Selsey Bill and had drifted close to the shore.

After attempts to contact the crew via vhf radio failed, an inshore lifeboat team was dispatched to check the welfare of the yacht crew.

A spokesperson for the RNLI said that, once the team arrived on scene at 6.59pm, they spoke to the yacht's skipper, who was unharmed. He said he had been aground, and was now going to anchor off Selsey for the night.

Noticing that the yacht's anchor was not holding, and with weather due to deteriorate the following morning, the stations operation manager decided the safest course of action was to retrieve the yacht and tow it back to safety.

An RNLI spokesperson said: "The all-weather-lifeboat (ALB) launched at 7.35pm and rendezvous with the yacht and ILB. A crewman from the ALB was transferred to the yacht to assist with in establishing the tow."

With the yacht safely towed back to Chichester harbour, all units were stood down and returned to the station at 10.53pm.