TWO lifeboats from the Barrow station responded to a Mayday call from a vessel in the Walney Channel late last night.

It came as information was received from HM Coastguard in Holyhead that a dingy, with one man on board, had broken free from a yacht experiencing engine difficulties close to Piel Island and was drifting out into Morecambe Bay.

The volunteer crew at the lifeboat station was paged and the inshore lifeboat ‘Vision of Tamworth’ was launched at 10.20pm and began a search of the area. The all-weather lifeboat, ‘Grace Dixon’ was then launched a short time later and both boats conducted an extensive search based on information being relayed to the coastguard by the people on board the yacht and the man in the dinghy.

Flares were fired from the lifeboats and by local coastguard units who were also in attendance, in order to illuminate the search area. At around 11pm, the casualty reported that he had drifted to the shore and was now on solid ground, but was unsure of his exact position.

At 11.20pm the crew of the ‘Vision of Tamworth’ radioed to say that they had located the casualty at the southern end of Foulney Island. At 11.35pm the casualty, who was uninjured, and his dinghy were returned safely back to the yacht.

It transpired that the original problem experienced by the yacht was caused by a rope fouling its propeller and in order to ensure that the vessel was left in a safe condition for the night it was secured to a mooring just east of Piel Island.