Yacht Rescued From Goodwin Sands In Rough Seas

Four people and their 10 metre yacht were rescued overnight after grounding on the Goodwin Sands in very rough sea conditions.

Lifeboats and a Rescue Helicopter worked together to get a line to the stricken yacht before the vessel was flooded or broken up.

At 1.46am Dover Coastguard received a Mayday from the skipper of Chatham based yacht Spirit, reporting an exact position aground on the Goodwin Sands, five miles South East of Ramsgate and that the thin keeled boat had been pushed over onto its side and the four crew were in grave danger. With Northerly winds up to 25 knots and rough sea conditions the vessel was in a perilous situation.

Dover Coastguard requested the launch of Ramsgate RNLI life boats and RAF Rescue helicopter 125. The lifeboats were on scene very quickly by 2.14am and working with the crew of the helicopter, were able to get a line passed to the crew of the casualty vessel. From that point the all weather lifeboat was able to pull the yacht off into deeper water and refloat it successfully. The inshore lifeboat escorted the yacht back to Ramsgate.

Frank O'Neil of Dover Coastguard said: "During this incident, the good training of both the skipper and the crew as well as following all the correct procedures during an emergency at sea made a significant contribution to this successful rescue. We received a comprehensive Mayday and all the information needed to get rescuers on scene quickly."