Humber lifeboat saves man in 14 hour rescue mission

The RNLI Humber Lifeboat crew pulled a lone yachtsman to safety in a 14 hour mission.

The Lifeboat crew based at Spurn point were originally called out on Sunday around four o'clock. The man had put in a distress call to Humber Coastguard who coordinate search and rescue on the East coast.

The Rescue Helicopter was originally launched to locate the casualty and found the disabled yacht 61 nautical miles offshore.

They spoke to the man on board who explained he had taken on quite a lot of water in bad weather through the night and his yacht's engine was now not working.

But he explained he was happy and fit enough to stay aboard but would need a tow back to safety.

The coastguard then spoke to the RNLI crew and requested the launch of the all-weather lifeboat.

At 61 miles it would take the boat almost three hours to reach the man and his vessel so on route the crew worked where the vessel was likely to drift to.

Once nearing the area the lifeboat managed to contact the casualty and use its direction finding equipment to confirm the yachts location.

Once on scene lifeboat crew were put aboard to assess the gentlemen and the yachts condition; thankfully the yachtsmen had done a good job of clearing the water and just needed the lifeboats assistance to get back the shore.

The gentleman was pulled aboard the lifeboat and two RNLI crew stayed to attach the tow. After approximately 11 hours towing back to the river Humber the yacht was put alongside and into the safety of Grimsby.