Two people have been rescued from a yacht which got into difficulty off the north Dublin coast.
Shortly after midday yesterday the coastguard received a call from a crew on the yacht south of Lambay Island, unable to make its way back to the harbour as sea conditions were challenging.
The crew found two people on board described as wet and cold but otherwise unharmed, who were then brought to safety.
A statement from the RNLI says: "The volunteer lifeboat crew of Howth RNLI launched its All-Weather Lifeboat yesterday to reports of a yacht with two people on board that was being blown offshore and unable to make its way back to safety.
"Shortly after midday, the Coast Guard received a call from the yacht which gave its position as south of Lambay Island, the largest island off the east coast of Ireland. The sea conditions were challenging and the crew of the yacht were unable to make progress towards their intended destination, and were unable to make their way back to the safety of a harbour.
"The volunteer lifeboat crew were paged at 12:11pm to launch the All-Weather Lifeboat, the Roy Barker III. The crew made their way to the lifeboat station, and launched the lifeboat within ten minutes. Visibility was good, however the winds and sea state were challenging with winds blowing force 5 to 6, and gusting force 7.
"The lifeboat was on scene in fifteen minutes. The coxswain decided to put a lifeboat crew member on board the yacht to assess the two people on board. The coxswain manoeuvred the lifeboat alongside the yacht and transferred the crew member across. The crew member established that the two people on board were wet and cold but otherwise unharmed. The coxswain decided to take the yacht under tow and to bring it to the safety of Howth harbour.
"The crew set up the tow line and once ready, the coxswain again brought the lifeboat alongside the yacht to allow the crew transfer the tow line across. The tow line was secured and the yacht was towed back to Howth. The lifeboat returned to the lifeboat station at 13:40 and was made ready for its next service."
Howth RNLI Second Coxswain Ian Sheridan says: "The RNLI volunteer lifeboat crews are on call 24/7 365 days of the year. As the weather conditions were deteriorating, the crew of the yacht did the right thing in calling for help before it was too late.
"Our volunteer crew responded to the pager quickly and we were able to launch and locate the yacht within twenty five minutes of their call for help.
"We train regularly in all weather conditions to ensure that when the pager goes off we can get out to sea to save lives and get back safely."
