Margate’s volunteer RNLI lifeboat crew was called to the aid of a yacht stranded on a sandbank off Margate yesterday (July 23).
The 12m long yacht with five persons on board was on passage from Queenborough to Ramsgate when it ran aground on the Margate Sand at around 9am.
Unable to immediately refloat the vessel themselves, the crew broadcast a Mayday distress call asking for assistance. The call was picked up by UK Coastguard who alerted Margate RNLI.
The town’s all-weather lifeboat was tasked to assist and arrived on scene around 15 minutes after launching. The tide was in the last hour of the ebb and as the weather was fine it was decided not to attempt an immediate refloating but to wait for the flood tide.
The lifeboat remained on scene and reassured the yacht’s crew who were uninjured and well equipped, all wearing lifejackets and with suitable life-saving equipment to hand.
Shortly after on the flood tide, a towline was passed, and the yacht was pulled clear of the sandbank into deeper water. Once the yacht’s crew had checked that their vessel had not sustained any damage it proceeded on its voyage towards Ramsgate and the lifeboat was released to return to station.
