As storms lashed our coasts last Christmas, a crew of sailors found themselves without engine or sail power – and drifting into the path of a 218m cruise liner …

When the Cowes lifeboat volunteers launched into a gale on the evening of 21 December, they knew it wasn’t going to be an easy shout. But theb lives of three adults and a child were at stake.

Helmsman Scott Armiger was in command, with fellow Crew Members Stu Higgs, Heather Boden and Alasdair Boden, who was driving. They heard that a motorsailor had lost its engine and sails en route from Hamble to Cowes. When the engine cut out, the 13m yacht’s crew had put up reefed sails but, with winds gusting up to storm force 10, they were ripped to shreds.

Despite the conditions, it was a busy night for traffic in the Solent. Five cruise ships were preparing to head out of Southampton, into the restricted shipping channel. And that’s exactly where the wind and tide were pushing the sailors. Left unchecked, they would find themselves in the path of the first ship: the 218m, 43,537-tonne cruise liner Balmoral.

Scott radioed the Coastguard, who reassured him that the ship was aware of the yacht. But, in the confined waters of the Solent, there’s little room for large vessels to manoeuvre. Scott recalls seeing the cruise ship as he and the lifeboat crew approached: ‘Watching them bearing down on you – not knowing whether they could see you – was quite a heart-thumping moment.’

The Cowes crew were not the only RNLI volunteers tasked to help: the crew of the larger Yarmouth all-weather lifeboat were on their way. But there wasn’t time to wait. So Crew Member Heather Boden – an experienced sailor – managed to scramble aboard the yacht from the lifeboat. Now it was all about the lifeboat crew's teamwork.

‘It’s such a fantastic feeling to not have to tell them what to do,' says Scott. 'They knew their jobs and were doing them before being asked.’ Heather attached a tow rope. Stu worked the rope from the lifeboat with Alasdair at the wheel. ‘It was some of the toughest driving I've ever done,’ says Alisdair.

With the tow rope secure and the Atlantic 85’s power proving enough to pull the yacht out of danger, the Cowes lifeboat crew soon had the family safely ashore. ‘They were extremely lucky not to be run over,’ says Scott. ‘My advice to anyone thinking about going to sea is to check the weather through multiple sources and, if in any doubt, don’t go to sea.’