Yesterday evening, only two hours after its return from towing the Swedish yacht Mjollnir in to Oban Marina – after its engine had failed off Lady’s Rock, south of Lismore, which we reported then, the Oban lifeboat, Mora Edith MacDonald, was out on another shout.
The yacht Zulu Dawn, with three people onboard, had been sailing to the north east of Lismore when it ran aground on a reef between Lismore and Shuna.
The crew of the yacht immediately called Clyde Coastguard for assistance and the Oban lifeboat, Mora Edith Macdonald launched again at 8:15pm.
Despite the efforts of the lifeboat crew – all volunteers – it was not possible to refloat the yacht because the tide was falling.
The crew of the yacht were therefore transferred to the lifeboat and taken to Oban for the night.
At 4.00am this morning the lifeboat relaunched to the same yacht, to attempt to refloat it on the high tide.
This time the crew were successful in towing the yacht off the reef. She appeared to have suffered no major damage after spending the night aground. The lifeboat left her in the care of her crew, who had had a good night’s sleep and returned to Oban – ready for service again at 6:30am.
Do these wealthy yachties pay for such a magnificant service?
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No – but several do make donations, as we understand it.
They do spend money in the areas they sail in – and sailing tourism is a natural for Argyll to develop in a major way. We have unmatched sailing grounds.
There is also the value to skills maintenance and development in the rescue services in responding to the mishaps that befall sailors. Its only the minority of who could be described as ‘wealthy yachties’.
Ans pros run aground as well. The Mull ferry had an argument with a rock on the sea bed just off her berth not so long ago and the Lismore ferry went on an amazing serendipity that was funny afterwards but could have ended very badly.
It’s life, Lowry and all valuable training for the lifeboat crew to bring to the next emergency. And the RNLI is entirely supported by donations from the public who understand the absolute importance of this sterling service.
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Accidents do happen to us all, and the vast majority of sailors will never have recourse to the RNLI. However, there must come a time when insurance companies will vary their rate depending on the skills and qualifications of the insured. Until that time comes the unlucky, and increasingly, the unskilled, the unqualified and the downright dangerous will call on the dedicated and trained crews of the RNLI to rescue them and make sure that the rescued sleep soundly in their bunks, unashamed by their lack of seamanship and ship-handling abilities.
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