Gafirs help stricken 28ft yacht in Gosport water

Gosport and Fareham Inshore Rescue Service (Gafirs) were called to the stricken vessel after it lost power in the water off Browndown.

The yacht sent out a mayday call yesterday around 1pm and Gafirs, which was attending the Gosport Marine Festival, heard the call and sent the crew out.

The 28ft sailing yacht was located within minutes with two people on board.

Gafirs senior coxswain Brian Pack said: ‘My crewman ascertained that there was no damage to vessel and rigged a tow line so we could pull it away from danger.

‘The conditions were particularly testing, with choppy seas, high winds and a strong tide, so we made slow and steady progress into Portsmouth Harbour.’

The vessel was placed alongside at Hornet Sailing Club and the casualties safely helped back ashore.

In total the operation lasted two hours and was the 34th incident of the year for Gafirs, an independent lifeboat services based at Stokes Bay.