RELIANCE BF80

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Disabled fishing vessel towed to Oban

The Oban RNLI lifeboat launched early in the morning of Mar 30, 2016, to the assistance of the "Reliance BF 80" which was suffering from gearbox failure southwest of the island of Colonsay. The "Mora Edith Macdonald" was requested to launch by Stornoway Coastguard at 07.40 a.m. to assist the Islay lifeboat which had already started towing the fishing vessel. The Islay lifeboat’s volunteer crew had been paged at 04.30 a.m. to assist the vessel, 20 miles west of Islay. She was taken in tow to the northwest end of Colonsay, where, at 09.30 a.m., they rendezvoused with the Oban lifeboat. The Islay lifeboat dropped their tow line and the Oban lifeboat attached theirs. By 09.38 a.m. the Oban volunteer crew had begun to make their way back for Oban, taking with the vessel under tow to Oban for repair. On approach to Oban, the towline was shortened to allow safe manoeuvring in to Oban Bay. The fishing vessel was then taken alongside the lifeboat and safely berthed on the South pier. The Oban lifeboat then returned to station where she was refuelled and made ready for service again by 2.50 p.m. Report with photos: http://forargyll.com/?p=105508