A yacht was rescued by lifeboat volunteers when it ran aground near Cullercoats Harbour on the north east coast of England.

On
Tuesday, 20 August, a call from Humber Coastguard at 3.55pm alerted the RNLI Cullercoats crew to launch and aid a boat, which had grounded on some rocks and damaged its rudder.

Within six minutes Cullercoats lifeboat Hylton Burdon
was launched and the volunteers – Kris Wilkinson, Helmsman, Marc
Drummond, Ross and Curtis Dunn – were on the scene within two minutes.

The boat needed to be towed into
deeper water but as a consequence of running aground, the yacht had
sustained damage to its rudder and was unable to steer.

This made the
task of towing the boat difficult as it would have pulled sideward
against a forward tow.

After assessing the situation
Tynemouth all-weather lifeboat was tasked to tow the yacht safely back
to the river Tyne and onto the Royal Quays Marina in North Shields.

Kris
Wilkinson, helmsman at RNLI Cullercoats, said: ‘As the vessel tried to
sail into Cullercoats Harbour it grounded on some rocks which damaged
the rudder.

‘We decided to move the yacht into deeper waters to enable a
safe tow back to the river Tyne.’

Picture credit: RNLI/Michael Scott