A Swedish yachting couple who were forced to abandon ship when rescued from 10m waves on Friday night were reunited with their 24ft yacht just 18 hours later.

Dunbar RNLI launched to the couple after they called for help at around 5pm Friday.

The yacht was being battered by a Force 9 gale, 35 nautical miles north east of Dunbar.

After a 2-hour passage, battling waves as high as 10m, the lifeboat reached the scene. ‘The conditions were especially bad as we got nearer,’ recalls Dunbar Coxswain Gary Fairbairn. ‘I worked on fishing trawlers for 15 years before I was Coxswain, but I’ve never seen anything like that.’

The couple abandoned ship and were taken aboard the lifeboat and backto Dunbar, where the volunteer crew paid for a night in hotel accommodation.

The next afternoon, a member of the public reported a small yacht floating dangerously near cliffs near Arbroath. Inchcape RNLI launched and managed to tow the yacht clear of the rocks. The boat was only saved from the cliffs by its drogue launched the previous evening, which had anchored itself on a rock.

The couple were reunited with their yacht, and told the local press: ‘”We will now have to find out how much damage the yacht has suffered before continuing our journey.”