Unlucky Fastnet Yacht called Lucky

The 63 foot American racing yacht, Lucky, was not so lucky on Sunday and needed the help of Yarmouth RNLI after becoming hard aground.

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A local village sailor (that's a sailor from the village, not a person that sails around the village!), and friend of this blog, noticed the lifeboat manoeuvring around on Sunday and eventually managed to work out what was happening.

Claire Hallett reported on the 'On the Wight' website; "On one of the busiest days in the Solent, the start of the Fastnet Race, the RNLI’s Yarmouth lifeboat was tasked with assisting one the competing yachts.

The launch request came from the Solent Coastguard at 4.40pm on Sunday 14th August following a distress call from the ironically named 63 foot American racing yacht Lucky, which had run aground on the notorious Shingles Bank in the western Solent.

When the volunteer crew of the Yarmouth lifeboat arrived on scene the stricken yacht, with a draft of 4.6 metres, was hard aground and heeled right over. The Y boat was immediately deployed from the lifeboat to check that the 18 strong crew were all uninjured and that the vessel was not taking on water.

Six of the crew were taken off by the yacht’s support RIB and it was then a long wait for the flood tide.

When the tide arrived a tow was established and Lucky was pulled clear by the lifeboat at approximately 9.30pm and made her own way back to the Hamble. The Yarmouth lifeboat returned to station at 9.55pm.

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