Gusty north easterly force 3 to 5 winds and a dragging
anchor close to a lee shore resulted in a 38ft yacht getting its keel caught in a gully near the Isle of Wight.

Five crew were aboard the cruiser when the incident occurred on Saturday afternoon on Hampstead Ledge on the western side of Newtown
Bay.

With the ebbing
spring tide having quickly taken the water from beneath them, the crew had realised their predicament and settled, down
assuring the coastguard of their wellbeing, to await the return of the
tide.

However as the tide turned the owner became concerned that the
rock formations might prevent the vessel, now resting at an extreme
angle from rising sufficiently leading to damage and flooding as the
tide rose and the gusty wind continued across the tidal flow.

Volunteer
RNLI crew members from Lymington RNLI Lifeboat Station sprang into action when their pagers went off at 6.15pm. 

The lifeboat crew found
the yacht hard aground port side down with hull and rudder exposed and
the now flooding tide lapping at deck level.

Echo sounding and shallow
water dipping identified the extent of the gully and best route out
given sufficient rise of tide.

A tow line was established and the
yacht held across the tide, head to breeze for two hours until
sufficient water existed to execute the tow out of the gully.

Having
checked for damage, the yacht was released to continue its passage to
Gosport.

Lymngton RNLI lifeboat returned to station shortly after 9pm.

(Pictures: Stills from the RNLI video)