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Windcat supports vessel rescue

By: Tom Russell 08/07/2019 RNLI

General Vessels

Crew aboard Windcat Workboats' Windcat 3 supported the rescue of four individuals struck with engine problems off the Rhyl coast. The party had set off from Rhyl on Sunday morning (7 July 2019), and were preparing to return after a day's fishing just to the south-east corner of the Gwynt-Y-Mor wind farm.

Crew aboard the leisure vessel discovered that the starter motor had seized, and they were unable to start their engine by alternative means. They tried to call the UK coastguard at Holyhead on their VHF radio, but were not successful, so a 999 call via mobile phone was made and the volunteers at Rhyl's Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) were paged at 3.42pm.

The vessel was about eight miles North of Rhyl, so the coastguard put out an all-ships broadcast on the VHF radio, which resulted in a nearby wind farm service vessel, Windcat 3, going to the aid of the vessel to prevent them drifting into the wind farm area. The boat was towed back to Rhyl, and met up with Rhyl's lifeboat about six miles to the north of the harbour. The tow was transferred to the lifeboat, and the four passengers were taken on board the lifeboat, whilst a lifeboat crew member stayed on the casualty vessel.

As the tide was going out at Rhyl harbour, the RNLI stated it was a race against time to get the vessel back with enough water in the harbour to be recovered on the slipway. To aid the speed and to move in the shallow water, the inshore lifeboat from Rhyl was launched, and towed the casualty vessel from the outer harbour to the slipway. The lifeboats then returned to station by 6.30pm.

Martin Jones, Coxswain of Rhyl Lifeboat, said "The party were well-equipped with all the necessary safety equipment, but the range of the VHF radio was not very great. We are thankful to the skipper and crew of the windfarm supply vessel 'Windcat 3' for assisting to get the casualty away from danger."

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Windcat supports vessel rescue

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