A yachtsman who had just completed a 75-day Atlantic crossing had to call the Coastguard early in the morning on Friday, August 24, when his 55ft ketch Maid of Crete suffered engine failure 20nM SE of Anvil Point.
The vessel had to be found by radar as the solo sailor had limited battery power aboard his vessel, meaning his VHF contact was intermittent and could not be relied on for direction-finding. The Swanage relief boat was launched and the search to find the yacht took the lifeboat 40 minutes in a rising westerly wind in moderate seas. Two lifeboat crew were put aboard the Maid of Crete to assess the situation: “The skipper explained that his yacht had suffered some damage during the crossing and that the engine was irreparable at sea,” states the Lifeboat Log. “Although he had supplies for him and his dog for another few days it was decided to tow the vessel back to Swanage where the skipper could get a good rest and replenish some of the boat’s supplies and repair some damage before continuing its passage to the final port of call. The slow tow was completed at 1037hrs when the boat was secured to the lifeboat mooring and the lifeboat was recovered to the boathouse almost five hours after launching.”
This was the second time the Lifeboat had attended to the Maid of Crete which had dragged her mooring from an anchorage in Studland Bay four days earlier. At that point she had not needed help or a tow from the volunteers. Maid of Crete is a Samson Sea Barron Epoxy Coated, Ferro-cement long keel Blue Water nine-berth Ketch built by Potter & Bishop of Kent in 1980 to Norske Veritas standards.
The Swanage Shannon Class Lifeboat George Thomas Lacy (2016) is currently in Poole for repairs.