Solo sailor rescue - How far will the coastguard go?

9:57 PM Sun 14 Jun 2009 GMT

'Rescued sailor with coastguards Mike Price-Hughes and Nigel McColm right - photo from the Daily Echo' .

How far will the coastguard go in saving a sailor? UK Coastguard station officer Nigel McColm showed just how far this week when he took a ship-wrecked sailor to his own home for the night after saving his life.

Sailor Jonathon Orme-Dawson, a retired teacher had planned a 12 month solo voyage round Britain when salt water drowning of his yacht's engine removed the last chance of saving his yacht.

He had restored the 24 ft yacht during the previous two years, and planned the adventure-of-a-lifetime, but the boat hit the rocks between Lyme and Bridport.

He was two months into his voyage when the incident happened. He told Jim Durkin of the Daily Echohow he was rescued:

"The boat was rocking and crashing and I was thinking, 'any minute now, that is it. I'll be in. I'm fairly fit but I have asthma. The shock of hitting cold water would have triggered an attack. I was fearful for my life."

He told how he had gotten into trouble after weather closed in around steep cliffs at Golden Cap on Friday night.

He said: "I'd been to Torbay. I'd arranged to meet my family at West Bay for the weekend and was making my way there when thick fog set in.

"The wind was quite fast and blowing in the wrong direction, and the sea was rough, with metre high waves."

But it was the salt water that flooded into the engine bay that removed his last chance of saving the boat.

Mr Orme-Dawson said: "I battled for an hour to get away from the rocks, but there was a sheer cliff and it distorts the wind when you get near it. So I was just drifting. But the response I got was absolutely unbelievable."

Yacht went on the rocks between Lyme and Bridport on the south coast of the UK - .. .

He told of the speed of the Lyme Regis RNLI crew and coastguards, including the helicopter, who answered the call within minutes.

"I got a huge boost when I saw them. I knew I wasn't alone," said the battered sailor.

But as the boat's sail was still up, a down-draft from the helicopter threatened to tear it apart. It was decided to use the lifeboat to get alongside the vessel, but this proved fruitless.

Lifeboatmen were put ashore and managed to get to the vessel wedged between rocks but close to the beach.

"The lifeboat came along and John, from the lifeboat crew, got on my boat and pulled down the sails. He helped me off then we got ashore and the helicopter winched me up.'

He watched his beloved yacht, and all his possessions, sink into the sea.

...and that was when Portland Bill coastguard station officer Nigel McColm put the weary sailor up in his own home for the night.

by Nancy Knudsen

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