Lowestoft: Two Dutch Yachts Rescued By Lifeboat

18 May 2013, 06:08 | Updated: 18 May 2013, 06:13

The RNLI have towed two Dutch yachts to safety after they suffered mechanical problems on an annual visit to Lowestoft.

Coxswain John Fox said ‘we were first called shortly after 9.50am and found the stranded 25 foot yacht Naijade with mechanical problems, limping along near to the South Holm buoy, three and a half miles south of Lowestoft Harbour. Despite some language problems with the yacht’s two man crew we managed to secure a line to the vessel and tow it to safety.

Then later in the day at 5.15pm we received a call to another stranded Dutch yacht. We headed to its location one and a half miles south-east of the South Holm buoy and found the 47 foot yacht Blue Velvet with five people on board unable to start its engine due to a faulty battery.’

Both vessels were towed to the Yacht Basin where they were able to join their fellow countrymen.

It was the 35^th year that the fleet of yachts from Toerzeillers, the Dutch Association of Tour Sailors, had sailed from Ijmuiden and Den Helder in the Netherlands to Lowestoft, bringing 120 sailors to the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club for the weekend.