Even experienced sailors can misjudge their situation. Carol Waterkeyn reports on a testing service to two yachts caught out close to harbour

Mr and Mrs Burris checked the forecast on 25 June 2007 as they prepared to sail their 10m wooden yacht Coresande up from the Isles of Scilly to Padstow, north Cornwall. If they got a move on, they could surely beat the bad weather coming in. Off Stepper Point, just outside Padstow, a lone yachtsman was taking a rest in his sloop, Fly, after his long passage from The Azores. Meanwhile, fisherman and Padstow lifeboat volunteer Ian Kitto was just returning home from a successful early morning.

As Ian unloaded his catch, his lifeboat pager summoned him. The weather was worsening and he realised that this shout might prove tricky. He hurried to the lifeboat station, outside the town at the spectacular Trevose Head. Meanwhile, painter and decorator Peter Poole dropped everything as his pager went off, with no time to explain.

As Head Winchman, he too was needed urgently. Coxswain Alan Tarby, down at the harbour, had already heard that someone was in difficulty. Other crew members joined him in speeding to respond. Michael England, the Mechanic, was already at the station and had informed the Coastguard that they would be launching in about 10 minutes. The response was that the casualty vessel might not have even that long!

Alan and his crew launched down the slipway in their new Tamar at 11.20am unaware of the epic that was about to unfold. Alan remembers: ‘It wasn’t until we got out to sea that we realised just how bad the conditions had got. They had deteriorated so quickly.’ The wind was north westerly, gale force 8–9, once reaching storm force 10. The waves were the height of a double-decker bus, breaking over a huge swell, slowing but not stopping the lifeboat’s progress. The crew remained firmly strapped into their impact-absorbing seats for as long as possible.

They found Coresande 4 miles north of the lifeboat station. She had been unable to outrun the weather and was now taking on water. Her foresail had been blown out so she was without power and pitching heavily.

It took all of the Coxswain’s skills at the helm to manoeuvre 16-04 Spirit of Padstow alongside. Such was the danger and discomfort to Mr and Mrs Burris that Crew Members Luke Chown and Chris Murphy courageously made the transfer to the yacht to help them off. However, after about 15 more difficult approaches by the lifeboat, it became clear an evacuation would be even harder than expected. Mrs Burris was simply frozen to the spot with fear and Mr Burris would not go without her.

To tow the yacht to shore in the prevailing conditions would be far too dangerous for the couple. Doom Bar stood in their way, too, a sandbank said in legend to have been created as a result of a mermaid’s curse that had conjured up a great storm. Alan therefore requested an airlift and after 30 minutes, a Royal Naval rescue helicopter from Culdrose arrived to transport all four from the yacht. In 10m swells, the helicopter’s hi-line became snagged in the yacht’s rigging and had to be cut free to avoid catastrophe. Luke had already injured his arm – now as he followed Mrs Burris up into the aircraft, he received a brief dip in the water!

The lifeboat was now free to set a course for Padstow. The yacht in tow kept disappearing from view, so steep were the waves. The pair were just crossing Doom Bar when the remaining lifeboat crew observed Fly, whose anchorage looked very vulnerable.

Coresande was quickly berthed, Crew Member Neil Simpson assisting. Chris Murphy was already back from the airlift and replaced Neil at the quayside while the Spirit of Padstow lifeboat set out again this time to the sloop Fly. It was 2.45pm.

By now the Bar was a mass of breaking and dumping seas. They found Fly had fouled her anchor and was indeed in a treacherous position, made worse by the now falling tide. The yacht was being thrown about like a rag doll.

Remarkably, her skipper seemed to be unaware of the danger he was in. Though willing to be evacuated, he delayed by rushing off to grab some personal possessions. During the next approach of the lifeboat, the two craft collided, knocking the yachtsman into the water, something Alan regrets to this day. But worse was to come. Though the man was wearing a lifejacket, it did not inflate and was later found to have no gas canister. Fortunately he was secured by a safety harness and, in the extremely difficult conditions, the crew managed to haul him onboard the lifeboat, wrapped him in a thermal blanket and administered oxygen.

With the lower tide and opposing wind, crossing the Bar could not be attempted again, so Coxswain Tarby requested the helicopter once more. It was already out responding to another call but, a few minutes later, returned to the scene. Keen by now to abandon ship, Fly’s skipper nonetheless refused to be airlifted. After much persuasion, he was strapped into a stretcher, which felt more secure, and airlifted to the Royal Cornwall Hospital. He was at risk from secondary drowning, having swallowed seawater, and had a previous back injury to be checked. His escape was not too soon – shortly after the yacht broke free, was dragged across Doom Bar and onto rocks becoming badly holed.

At 5.20pm, with waves too large to recover the lifeboat back up the station slipway, she was first moored out in the bay, but was forced to move out to open water again. Two crew members were seasick. The lifeboat was finally refuelled and returned to station at 11.35pm some 12 hours after launching. Her crew were tired and hungry and looking forward to a cup of tea or something stronger. Many agreed it was the roughest shout they had been on.

The Coresande survived her ordeal and, when the weather improved, her owners carried on to Cardiff. They made a generous donation to the charity in gratitude and sent a letter of thanks to the crew.

Padstow’s new Lifeboat Operations Manager and former harbour master, Captain Trevor Platt, is extremely proud of how the crew performed: ‘Everyone who was at sea that day got caught out by the conditions. It is down to the professionalism of the lifeboat crew that three people survived.’