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The silence of the early morning was broken by a distress call from HM Coastguard, prompting a rapid response from the Walmer RNLI crew. At 2:20 AM yesterday, the volunteers launched their Atlantic lifeboat, the Hounslow Branch, to assist a 7-metre yacht that had broken down.
The yacht, with two people on board, was in a perilous position, anchored less than 100 metres off the South Foreland lighthouse near Dover. The situation was made even more urgent by the falling tide, which had left the vessel in less than a metre of water.
After the yacht’s crew was unable to restart their engine, a Walmer crew member was put on board to assess the situation and prepare the vessel for towing. A tow line was quickly rigged, and the lifeboat began the difficult task of towing the yacht to safety.
With the help of a Coastguard Rescue Team, the yacht was successfully guided to a berth in Dover Harbour and after ensuring the people and vessel were safe, the lifeboat crew was stood down by HM Coastguard at 4:30am, their mission complete.