18th July 2004 11:01 - 12:50

Yacht Wizard - On Board Fire, 4 Persons on Board

This service call was an interesting launch, as it involved fire, passing yachts, 4 Crew already at sea and was the first ILB shout for the new Inshore Lifeboat - IB1, Peterborough Beer Festival II.

6 ILB and ALB crew had launched on exercise with the new ILB and boarding boat.  Whilst at sea Swansea Coastguards paged the ALB to a report of Yacht Wizard, which had suffered a fire on board, with 4 crew on board.  Both IB1 and the boarding boat returned to station to assist with the service launch.  4 Crew transferred from the inshore boats and launched to the scene, which was 1/2 mile off Langland Bay.

A passing yacht, skippered by a local (relatively well-known) Radio DJ had offered assistance and was already towing Yacht Wizard in an easterly direction at slow speed.  IB1 took a tow line from the ALB and took over the tow.  The ALB for the next 35 minutes towed Yacht Wizard to Swansea Marina.  As a precautionary safety step Yacht Wizard was provided with an emergency hand held radio for comms.

At Swansea Marina the ALB requested that IB1 take up the tow in order to return the damaged vessel back to its mooring berth in the Marina.  Both boats returned to station approximately 2 hours after being paged for service.