AQUAMARINE ACE

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Aquamarine Ace aided single handed sailor

The "Aquamarine Ace" on Apr 4, 2012, assisted a French sailor who was sailing a single-handed racing yacht in gale force weather. The man was rescued 26 miles south of the Isles of Scilly. Falmouth Coastguard was alerted to the sailors plight at 4.00 p.m. after receiving a VHF digital selective calling (DSC) alert from the "Betelgeuse". Because the sailor used DSC connected to a GPS transponder, coastguards received an instant accurate position and put out a broadcast to all shipping asking for assistance from vessels in the area. The "Aquamarine Ace" responded and offered to go to the assistance of the yacht, which was half an hour away. The yacht had become dismasted and communication over any distance was therefore difficult, so as well as the ship providing a lee to the yacht, they were also able to communicate information from the yacht to the coastguard. Meanwhile, Falmouth Coastguard had requested St Marys RNLI lifeboat to launch. The lifeboat was an hour away in rough weather with a five metre swell. Once the lifeboat arrived on scene, the sailor was rescued from his yacht and taken back to St Marys in the Isles of Scilly. The yacht had to be abandoned due to the rough weather. Report with photo: http://www.pbo.co.uk/news/531398/french-sailor-rescued-off-scillies