Lifeboat volunteers faced an exhausting 12-hour shift when a yachtsman was stranded 50 miles off the coast in appalling weather

It was just before 8am and the start of a blustery August weekend in Castletownbere. Coxswain Brian O’Driscoll was about to tuck into breakfast when his pager sprang into life. A lone yachtsman, sailing home from the Azores, was struggling in a heavy swell and rough seas. Dismasted, and with the VHF antenna washed overboard, he resorted to motoring on his last dregs of fuel and triggered the distress signal on his personal locator beacon. Brian knew the location well from his years as a fisherman. Joined by his trusty volunteer crew, he launched Castletownbere’s Severn class lifeboat Annette Hutton into squally conditions. Meanwhile Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 115 was scrambled from Shannon. ‘They [the helicopter crew] had a bit of a struggle finding the yacht,’ says Brian, ‘but they eventually spotted it drifting 4 miles south east of its last known position.’ The yacht’s skipper managed to rig his broken radio through a GPS aerial just long enough to contact the helicopter at short range. Rescue 115 confirmed the position and reassured the yachtsman that the RNLI crew were on their way. As they reached the scene, the lifeboat crew and were in the teeth of a severe gale force 9 and dealing with 9m waves. Brian remembers how this added to communication problems: ‘The weather was too bad for us to go alongside. We had to raise the sailor from his cabin using a loud hailer. We couldn’t hear him through the wind and spray but he confirmed our directions with hand signals.’ Given the conditions, it was safer to leave him aboard while the lifeboat towed the vessel. The sailor was shaken up but was able to tie the tow rope and take himself below decks to prepare for the long journey into harbour. With the stricken vessel now in tow, the RNLI crew reached speeds of 5–6 knots but, about 2 hours in, the
casualty flagged them down. ‘We shortened the tow to see if he was okay,’ says Brian. ‘He said he was very cold, maybe hypothermic. Waves were breaking over the deck and flooding his cabin. Everything was saturated. He’d had enough and wanted to get off.’ But Brian knew it was too risky for the all-weather lifeboat to make the transfer. ‘There would have been too much damage,’ he says. ‘Crew Member David Fenton volunteered to go across in our inflatable Y boat. Launching that was hairy enough.’ David skilfully manoeuvred alongside the lurching yacht, and helped the casualty safely aboard Annette Hutton. The man was taken into the wheelhouse and, after a cup of sweet coffee, he began to warm up and feel a lot better.

The ordeal was far from over though. ‘We continued with the tow, it was 9 hours all in all,’ says Brian. ‘There was a fair amount of slamming and when you’ve got people onboard with a lot of time to think they’re gonna get seasick.’ They finally arrived at the station around 8.30pm, more than 12 hours after launching. Castletownbere’s main pier was chock-a-block with vessels sheltering from the storm so they moored the yacht on the other side of the lifeboat pontoon. Lifeboat Operations Manager Tony O’Sullivan had arranged for a second band of volunteers to get the lifeboat refuelled and ready for service again, freeing up the weary lifesavers and their casualty to get changed in the boathouse. The grateful yachtsman thanked everyone and the crew invited him to dinner at a local restaurant. It was their first square meal for a day and it had been weeks for the yachtsman. The hospitality didn't end there, the volunteers also arranged accommodation for the sailor. It would be a week until his vessel was seaworthy again. For more on the rescue – including video footage – visit RNLI.org/CastletownbereRescue Words: Jon Jones | Photos: RNLI, Marney O'Donoghue, Irish Coast Guard

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL
COXSWAIN | CASTLETOWNBERE

It was hard enough. Force 8–9 pretty much all day’ It was such a long haul in such bad weather – we don’t get too many like that. We had a few bits of damage to the lifeboat but nothing major. The wind was blowing from west-north-west and we were going out south-southwest so we were pretty much across it. If we had been punching into the weather it would have been far worse. On the way back the wind didn’t let up until we were about an hour from harbour. Every now and again the yacht would disappear under a wave. The casualty was frightened and just wanted to get off. He said it felt like going 12 rounds with a professional boxer! It was a difficult one for our crew too but they stepped up to the mark very well. It was great teamwork.