It was a calm September afternoon for a yacht and her crew - until sudden engine trouble combined with a turning tide and a change in the weatherAs the yacht Classic Wave passed between the Isles of Kerrera and Bach off Oban, Argyll, her engine cut out. Skipper Bob Hartley recalls: 'We got the foresail up but it wasn't enough to keep us clear, and we went aground.' He made a precautionary call to the Coastguard saying he was confident of refloating the Classic Wave on the turning tide, but they requested the launch of Oban's Mora Edith Macdonald.

Coxswain Ronnie MacKillop and his crew arrived on scene to find Classic Wave taking on water in a 3m swell and backwash off the rocks. Ronnie brought the lifeboat through the narrow stretch of deep water to one side of the yacht and Crew Member Peter MacKinnon climbed across with a salvage pump. The flooding tide and damaged hull became too much for the pump, though, so the decision was taken to abandon ship.

Now in driving rain and strong wind, with waves breaking across both craft and a rise and fall between their decks of 2-3m, Ronnie manoeuvred the lifeboat back alongside Classic Wave and the first of her crew leapt to safety. Seeing that the older yachtsmen couldn't safely perform such a feat, Ronnie decided to use the lifeboat's liferaft to recover them and so turned and approached stern to stern.

But just as the raft was being prepared, the yacht suddenly dislodged from the rocks. She slipped and sank in a matter of seconds, throwing the three men into the sea. The yachtsmen grabbed onto the raft and were swept clear but Peter was not so lucky - the sinking yacht was drawing him down with her. He had to work with all his might to regain the surface.

Ronnie recalls. 'I was absolutely terrified for his safety but you just have to steelyourself and get on with it.'Thankfully, Classic Wave had also been equipped with a liferaft and this now inflated next to Peter and soon he too was recovered.

After the rescue, a grateful Bob said: 'I always believed in the RNLI but I never thought I would have to use them. They saved our lives. At no time did we feel desperate - we felt the lifeboat was in control. It was all so quick. We went aground at 12.15pm and were back in Oban two hours later.' Ronnie was happy to be able to conclude: 'At the end of the day we lost a salvage pump [since replaced by the yacht's insurers] but that's a small price to pay. You have to trust your training and your instincts and the boys who are with you.' Ronnie and Peter receive Framed Letters of Thanks from the RNLI Chairman Sir Jock Slater for their 'first class leadership' and 'resolute actions and bravery' respectively, while fellow crew Keith, Ian and Barry receive letters of appreciation from Chief Executive Andrew Freemantle.

Oban's Deputy Launching Authority Michael Robertson comments: 'Peter acted in the best traditions of the lifeboat service by continuing to help the yacht's crew without regard to his own safety - he could have jumped back onboard the lifeboat on several occasions but chose not to.

As a young and relatively inexperienced coxswain Ronnie kept calm throughout and handled the boat with exceptional skill to carry out the manoeuvres described, recover all the casualties and avoid damage to the lifeboat.'THE DETAIL THE DATE AND TIME Saturday 17 September 2005, 12.28pm-2.03pm THE CASUALTIES Three men on 12m yacht Classic Wave THE CONDITIONS Weather: Ram Visibility: Good, 5-10 miles Wind: South west force 6 Sea state: Rough, 2-3m swell THE CREW Coxswain: Ronnie MacKillop (31, full-time Coxswain since 2004,9 years on crew.) Crew Members: Second Mechanic Keith Burnett (43, Scottish and Southern Energy pic manager, 7 years on crew), Third Mechanic Peter MacKinnon (48, self-employed maintenance contractor, 4 years on crew), Ian Henry (46, ship agency manager, 16 years on crew), Barry MacTaggart (36, electrical linesman, 6 years on crew) THE LIFEBOAT ON-1227(14-23) Trent class all weather Mora Edith MacDonald On station: 1997 Funding: £1.2M Bequest of Miss ME MacDonald, and of Mrs Janet Boyd Finlay-Maclean, Mrs Harriet Willis Gaunt, the Most Noble George lain Murray 10th Duke of Atholl and RNLI Chairman (specifically funded communications equipment), and Mrs Annie Thomson Hart, and a gift in memory of Mr Doug Hallday (specifically funded rudder) THE LIFEBOAT STATION Oban Established: 1972 Previous lifeboats: a McLachlan class (1972), an all weather added (1978), both replaced by a Brede class (1982), replaced by the current Trent class in 1997 Previous gallantry awards: Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum to Coxswain/Mechanic John Patrick Maclean (1985), Framed Letter of Thanks to then Crew Member Ronnie MacKillop (2001).