A 60-year-old sailor had a lucky escape yesterday, after his yacht became damaged in gale-force conditions off the Cork coast.
He radioed his position, some 45m off the coast, explaining that his boat had lost its mast in stormy conditions. He also activated his Emergency position-indicating radiobeacon station (EPIRB), a tracking device carried by all vessels to pinpoint their location.
The Castletownbere RNLI lifeboat was launched into action, and the crew located the drifting yacht. They attached towing equipment and transferred the man over to the rescue boat due to health concerns.
Both craft reached safety some hours later. The lone sailor thanked the rescue crew for “saving his life”, and said”…only for the lifeboat, things would have ended up very badly today”.