A yachtsman who found himself in difficulty after his engine failed and anchor became stuck has been rescued.

The Lyme Regis lifeboat crew received a mayday call yesterday, (Saturday, March 23) at 8.42am, after the yachtsman found himself in difficulty a quarter of a mile south east of Axmouth.

The yachtsman reported that his engine had failed the previous evening and that he had anchored overnight to prevent his yacht being driven ashore in strong westerly winds.

When he attempted to recover his anchor and sail to the safety of Lyme Regis the following morning, he found the anchor could not be broken free from the seabed.

Faced with prospect of cutting his anchor cable whilst on a lee shore (a stretch of shoreline that is to the lee side of a vessel—meaning the wind is blowing towards land), and with no working engine he decided that his best course of action was to alert the coastguard for immediate assistance.

Lifeboat volunteers responded to the distress call and launched their Atlantic 85 inshore lifeboat Spirit of Loch Fyne.

They arrived on scene with the vessel at 9.05am and immediately transferred a volunteer onto the yacht to assess the situation and assist the lone yachtsman.

RNLI volunteer Helm Tim Edwards said: “We found the yacht in a precarious position, with no engine and fouled anchor close to the shoreline.

“The situation then took a dramatic turn for the worse when the yacht’s anchor cable parted, and the boat was blown closer towards the shore by strong gusts of wind. In view of the risks to the yachtsman and my crew I took the decision to tow the yacht back to Lyme Regis harbour.”

Lyme Regis volunteer lifeboat crew Cris Cadby was on board the yacht when the anchor cable parted.

He said: “One minute the yacht owner and I were discussing how best to free the anchor from the seabed, the next we were being blown downwind towards the shore at quite a speed. The lifeboat crew did a great job and managed to pass their towline on the first throw. Only then could we get the yacht back under control.”

The RNLI crew was full of praise for the yacht owner who was properly equipped with a lifejacket and VHF radio, and he did the right thing by calling for help when he realised he was in difficulty.

The tow back to Lyme Regis took the volunteer crew nearly an hour after which the yacht was made fast to the harbour wall, and the lifeboat was washed down and refuelled by shore crew in preparation for its next tasking.