Triple rescueThe last day of June 2001 marked the end of the BT Global Challenge and Calshot's D class lifeboat RJM was at sea to welcome the yachts back to Southampton. RNLI lifeboats are always on call, however, and at just after 3pm, they were alerted to an incident on the nearby Bramble Bank.

'My first thoughts were "Oh no, not today"', remembered Duncan Christie, helmsman of RJM. 'It was one of the busiest weekends of the year on the Solent, as everyone was out to welcome home the BT Global Challenge fleet of yachts. At the time we launched the tide was still ebbing and the wind freshening by the minute. The south-westerly wind was blowing straight up the western part of the solent against the tide, causing a lot of disturbed water over and around the Bramble Bank.' When the D class arrived on scene it found three yachts aground on the bank, spaced about 100m apart, all listing and rolling heavily in the swell. Independent rescue craft from Cowes Rescue and Hamble Rescue were standing off, unable to approach the yachts due to their deeper draft. 'The D class was the ideal boat to perform the rescue as it has an hydraulic tilt ram fitted which allows it to perform well in shallow water,' explained Duncan.

The crew approached the southernmost yacht and while Duncan took the lifeboat alongside, Kevin and Stephen managed to pass a towline from the yacht to the Hamble Rescue craft, which pulled the yacht safely into deeper water.

Duncan then approached the second yacht, April Legend, which was heeled over at 45° with one man and his wife aboard. Duncan took the lifeboat alongside the yacht and. with careful timing, Kevin was able to get aboard to assist the man in lowering the sails. Kevin then managed to coax the distraught woman out of the cabin and helped her aboard the lifeboat. Leaving Kevin aboard the April Legend, Duncan transferred the woman to the Hamble Rescue craft, which took her back to shore.

As the lifeboat returned to the April Legend, the crew of the third yacht. On Y Va, could be seen waving to attract attention as their yacht was heeled at about 45° with the four crew members clinging to the guard rail stanchions on the upper side. Just then, after continuous pounding, the yacht's keel snapped off and the On Y Va started rolling so violently that her mast was slapping into the water.

'Everything happened so fast that we had little time to think,' said Duncan, The On Y Va had lost its keel and our immediate concern was for the safety of the four people on board. They were hanging on to the upper port side stanchion and cockpit winch and it looked very much as if they were going to slide off into the water.' Duncan quickly checked that everyone was safe on the April Legend and hurried through the rough, shallow water to the third yacht. He carefully edged the lifeboat towards the cockpit of the yacht, constantly aware of the danger from the wildly swinging mast. His plan was to get each member of the crew to drop onto the lifeboat's canopy from the yacht's cockpit. He needed four runs to get all four crew members off, with Stephen hanging over the canopy to pull each crew member into the lifeboat. Each run required a great deal of skill and timing to avoid the slapping mast and the rolling of the yacht.

Having safely evacuated the crew, Duncan transferred them to the Hamble Rescue craft, which landed them at Calshot. He then returned to the April Legend'to remove Kevin and the yacht's owner. Theowner was transferred to the Hamble Rescue craft and was then reunited with his wife.

During the rescue of the On Y Va 's crew, Kevin had successfully deployed the April Legend's anchor.

However, the Coastguard were keen to deploy the anchor on the On Y Va to prevent her from drifting and becoming a hazard to navigation. The D class made several attempts to put a crewman on board but eventually had to abort as Duncan considered the risk of injury or damage to the lifeboat too dangerous. 'We tried to anchor her to the bank but it proved too dangerous to enter underneath the heaving mast,' remembered Duncan. "On our fourth attempt we managed to put Kevin on board. He tried to put the anchor out but it was impossible due to the loss of electrics. I then decided to move Kevin from the yacht and take the lifeboat back into safer waters away from the mast, as by then we were happy that the tide was now flooding back over the bank and there was no longer any danger that the yacht was going to drift.' Cowes Rescue brought out a large orange buffer, which Kevin secured to the yacht to mark her position at high water.

'This combined shout was the most demanding I have ever experienced,' Duncan said. The lifeboat performed brilliantly in the conditions and the only time I felt in any danger was while working around the grounded vessels. After the service I felt totally exhausted, as the day seemed more like six months than one hour.'THE LIFEBOAT D class lifeboat D-429 Ml Built: 1992 Cost El 0.000 Funding Slockport SE branch THE CREW Chairman'* Latter at Think* Helmsman Duncan ChHille lot his 'boat hand l