30-mile tow to safety for yacht adrift among rigs The rescue of two people from a yacht kept Cromer's Tyne class lifeboat at sea for 12 hours in winds of up to Force 9 on 28 September 1988. More than nine hours were spent towing the casualty to safety in very severe weather.

Great Yarmouth Coastguard contacted the lifeboat station at 0030 with the first news of a yacht in trouble.

The husband and wife crew of the 27ft yacht Phaedra were at sea in Force 8 to 9 winds, had no idea of their position and had lost electrical power.The skipper had managed to connect a car battery to the VHP radio in order to contact the coastguard, who had obtained a bearing on the transmission.

This put the yacht near the Vulcan and Leman gas field, and an 'all-ships' radio call resulted in the rig stand-by vessel Desirade spotting a flare fired by Phaedra at the coastguard's request.

The casualty was 30 miles NE of Cromer, and the station's Tyne class Ruby and Arthur Reed II was under way just seven minutes after the coastguard's call.

Although the wind was Force 8 to 9 its westerly direction meant that the seas off the station were only moderate, although they increased rapidly 4 to 5 miles offshore and continued to increase all the way out to the casualty.

Shallow Further rig support vessels, Stout Truck and Vulcan Service, had now come to the aid of the yacht and were standing by her as she drifted in the severe weather.

By 0100 the yacht's position was updated - she had now drifted into an area of shallow sand banks, and Stout Truck reported that she was unable to stay close to the casualty because of the shallows.

The lifeboat was forced to take short cuts over the sand banks which litter the area, taking her into very broken water. Coxswain Richard Davies reported later that the lifeboat 'handled well' in what must have been atrocious conditions, but the sea state (20ftto 25ft at the casualty's position) meant that waves were coming aboard the lifeboat, eventually putting her main VHF radio out of action at 0125.

The VHF direction finder was still in operation, but, as the yacht's jury-rigged system was giving a limited range, communication had to be via Stout Truck, which gave a countdown so that a current bearing could be taken.

Extreme Eventually the lifeboat came into radio range of the casualty, and the portable VHF enabled direct communication to be established.

At 0230 the yacht was located, going round in circles with all sails set. At the coxswain's request the crew lowered the sails and, with Stout Truck using her lights to illuminate the scene, a tow was passed successfully despite the sea state.

Because of the extreme weather and the height of the waves it was impossible to put a lifeboat crew member aboard Phaedra, or to take her two-man crew off.

They had been at sea for three days and were not well, the skipper saying later they were exhausted and hallucinating, but the only course of action was to ask them to go below, batten down and prepare for the long tow to safety.

Because of the conditions coxswain Daviesdecided the only possible course was southerly, towards Bacton, and the lifeboat set her course in this direction.

With 20ft to 25ft seas running the tow was very slow, the lifeboat making only a knot or so and the casualty making heavy weather of the conditions.

The tow commenced at 0300, and for seven hours the lifeboat crew battled slowly south through the gale until at 1000 they were under the lee of the land and conditions began to improve.

With no radio contact with the yacht it was decided to put a crew member aboard Phaedra, and then to increase the speed of the tow.

-After a further two-and-a-half hours at increased speed the lifeboat and the casualty finally reached the shelter of Great Yarmouth, and put the yacht alongside at 1230.

The conditions would have prevented the lifeboat from being retrieved safely at Cromer, so she was left at Great Yarmouth and the crew returned to the station by road.

The crew of Phaedra were unhurt, although the skipper, Graham Wood, told a local newspaper 'I knew that if we hadn't called the coastguard we wouldn't have seen the morning.' He added, 'the lifeboat boys were brilliant, really superb.' The weather did not relent enough to allow Ruby and Arthur Reed II to return to her own station until 1 October - when she was rehoused by 1815, only to launch on service again fifteen minutes later….