Skipper pulled from sinking yacht in RNLI rescue

A skipper has been rescued from a sinking vessel in Cornwall.

Falmouth Coastguard launched both RNLI Penlee lifeboats to the yacht at 11pm on Saturday 4 May.

The 32 ft (10m) yacht had grounded in poor weather conditions off Penzance promenade.

It was pulled free of rocks and towed to Newlyn harbour by rescuers.

According to rescuers, the yacht had suffered hull damage which caused it to take on water.

A spokesperson for the RNLI Penlee station said: "To assist the elderly skipper the Penlee all-weather lifeboat put an RNLI volunteer on to the yacht who quickly informed coxswain Patch Harvey that the vessel was taking on a lot of water.

"The yacht had suffered hull damage while aground and for the next two hours the yacht was pumped out every 20 minutes until nearer to high tide when it was towed to the north pier so it could dry out, [and] at low tide assess the hull damage.

"Both RNLI lifeboats returned to station at 2:15am Sunday morning to wash down and refuel in preparation for the next service."