Four boats rescued in aftermath of gales

Friday, 13 April 2012

The Jay C was forced onto rocks during the stormy weather last week at the far end of Goodwick beach. Here the Jay C is pulled out into deeper waters by the Megan M

by Chris Betteley

GALE-FORCE winds and atrocious sea conditions on Wednesday, 4 April, saw four boats being thrown around Fishguard Bay after breaking their moorings.

Three visiting fishing boats and a yacht hit rocks and the breakwater around Goodwick sands following winds of up to Force 12 being registered on Wednesday morning, making for a busy and challenging day for RNLI lifeboat crews.

The most serious incident was when the 18-metre whelker EuroClydon from Teignmouth, with three Latvian crew aboard, broke away from its mooring in Fishguard harbour and was pushed onto the rocks of the eastern breakwater.

The Fishguard RNLI all-weather lifeboat, Blue Peter VII sped to the scene just after 11am but with a dropping tide, was unable to get close enough to put a tow-line onto the stricken vessel.

Fortunately the commercial rigid inflatable boat, Cariad M with RNLI volunteer 2nd Coxswain Chris Bean at the helm was also on scene and was able to pull the fishing boat off the rocks and into deeper water to enable the lifeboat to take over the tow in the demanding conditions.

The fishing boat suffered damage to its steering whilst on the rocks and started taking on water. The lifeboat transferred a pump and stood while the leak was stemmed.

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