A solo sailor made a distress call when his yacht dragged anchor and was in danger of washing ashore at Caldey Island, off the coast of Wales.

Tenby all-weather lifeboat was launched in the early hours of Monday morning after Milford Haven Coastguard received the Pan Pan call from the yacht Maddi Daddi.

The yachtsman reported that his vessel had dragged anchor and he feared it would wash ashore in the surf at Sandtop Bay.

The all-weather RNLI lifeboat proceeded at 4.35am and on arrival at Sandtop Bay, the lifeboat’s onboard “Y”
boat was launched to journey through the surf to the casualty.

One
volunteer crewman was put onboard to assist the skipper who was unable
to manage the situation alone in the choppy conditions.

The Y boat then returned to the all-weather lifeboat to collect
another crew member and the tow rope which was soon attached and the
yacht was towed to safety outside the surf line.

After the Y boat had been recovered onboard the lifeboat, the yacht
with the owner and one RNLI crewman onboard was towed to a safe mooring
in Tenby North Bay.

Watch a video of the rescue here.

Pictures: Video stills of the Tenby RNLI rescue. Credit: RNLI/Danielle Rush