MONET

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Yacht aground on Buxey Sands - crew rescued amid storm

The 'Monet' with four people on board ran aground at Buxey Sands, five miles south of Clacton, Essex, in pos. 51 41 09 N, 01 07 02 E, on Nov 21, 2022, at around 1 p.m. Upon its mayday call the Dover Coastguard mobilized two RNLI boats, one Coastguard Rescue Helicopter and two Coastguard rescue teams. The Walton Lifeboat was the on scene coordinator for the RNLI crews from Walton, Frinton and Burnham, and Coastguard crews from Clacton, Dover and South Woodham Ferrers. The Walton and Frinton RNLI got the mayday call at 1 p.m. from the yacht which had stuck fast on Buxey Sands off Shoeburyness with four people on board. The Burnham RNLI managed to get close enough to put a crew member on board to check the 11.5m yacht’s occupants but, with more than three hours of falling tide remaining, there was no prospect of the vessel re-floating for several hours. The coast was being lashed by gale force winds and pelted with rain, while light was rapidly fading. A crew member from Burnham RNLI made it onboard the yacht to prepare the four passengers to be airlifted to safety by a UK coastguard helicopter. The crew member then flew with them to Clacton airfield where they were met by members of Clacton Coastguard. Once the yacht's passengers had been taken to safety, the crews focused on saving the boat itself. Walton and Frinton RNLI’s Tamar class lifeboat accompanied the Atlantic 85 of Burnham RNLI back into the River Crouch and had started to proceed back to base when it got a call. The Coastguard had requested that they make an attempt to retrieve the craft if at all possible without endangering themselves. The coxswain then turned back to see if the yacht was still holding on to the anchor as the tide began to rise. After a while it broke free and was at risk of drifting or breaking up as the tide moved it around. The yacht owner agreed to let the crews do whatever was required to get it to shore and a line was rigged to the yacht to drag her in to Bradwell Marina on the River Blackwater. The South Woodham Ferrers Coastguard and the skipper of the yacht met them there. 11 hours after responding to the mayday call, the Walton and Frinton RNLI crew arrived at their rough weather mooring in Titchmarsh Marina, Walton Backwaters just before midnight. Reports with photos: https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/lifeboat-crews-save-yacht-passengers-7853396 https://www.maldonandburnhamstandard.co.uk/news/23145599.burnham-crouch-rnli-people-airlifted-safety/