A group of Sea Scouts towed a broken down yacht to safety yesterday afternoon. Concept ran into trouble near Watchet harbour, Somerset, after her engine failed.

Simon Bale, the leader of 1st Watchet Sea Scouts, spotted the craft drifting against the outside harbour wall and despatched Bravo Papa, one of the Scout’s safety boats, to assist, attaching a towing line to bring Concept safely into the marina.

He said: ‘The swell was increasing and the yacht could easily have drifted onto the rocks at Splash Point. The incident was dealt with without any damage to the yacht or the lifeboat, and without calling the Coastguard.’