Two maydays FOLLOWING A MAYDAY from the yacht Penita received by Dover Coastguard on Friday August 29, 1980, Ramsgate lifeboat, the 44ft Waveney Ralph and Joy Swann, launched at 2330 under the command of Second Coxswain Derek Pegden, the coxswain being on leave.

The ferries Lion and Free Enterprise were alerted and a helicopter also joined the search.

It was a cloudy night with a near gale, force 7, blowing from the south west and the seas were rough. It was three hours after high water.

Penita, which had suffered a broken mast while on passage from Nieuportto Dover with five people on board, was not found in her first reported position.

She was, however, in radio contact with the two ferries and after she had fired a flare to give a cross bearing, she was found five miles away.

The lifeboat was alongside at 0120 and two lifeboatmen boarded the yacht to help her exhausted crew. With Crew Member Michael Pett in charge, they cut away the broken mast and rigging, secured a tow and tended the yacht on the long passage back to Ramsgate.

Harbour was reached at 0625 and the lifeboat was once again ready for service at 0650..