Just over a week after arriving at her new Pembrokeshire home, St Davids RNLI’s new Tamar class lifeboat was called into action for the very first time.
The volunteer crew were roused from their beds by the sound of their pagers in the early hours of this morning (Thursday) to assist a yacht in trouble five miles west of Ramsey Island,. The vessel had three people onboard.
Milford Haven Coastguard requested the launch of the St Davids all-weather lifeboat following a call from the 34 yacht which had an overheating engine and steering failure.
The Tamar lifeboat Norah Wortley left the mooring at 12.40am and the crew battled with thick fog and poor visibility to locate the vessel.
Dai John, RNLI Coxswain at St Davids said: "The direction finding equipment on the new Tamar was absolutely crucial in the thick fog, which meant visibility was less than 200 yards.
"When we arrived the vessel had established an emergency steering system. The Tamar escorted the yacht to the offshore pontoon at Dale in Milford Haven, before retuning to station at 5am."
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