A MEMBER of Swanage Lifeboat crew described the “needle in a haystack” situation when trying to locate a missing yacht after it suffered engine failure in the middle of the English Channel.

Solent Coastguard requested the launch of Swanage RNLI’s all weather lifeboat late on Tuesday night to help locate the missing boat. The 9m yacht had experienced engine failure earlier in the evening while traversing the English Channel.

The coastguard kept in regular contact with the yacht to ensure all was well; however, they lost contact with the skipper and after three hours they were concerned enough to instigate a search.

The lifeboat crew then spent the next four hours trying to locate the yacht.

Dave Turnbull, a Swanage Lifeboat crew member, said: “It was a little bit daunting for us as she could have been anywhere. The position was four hours old at the time of our launch and it was in an area with a lot of commercial shipping. It was a bit of a needle in a haystack situation.”

He added that the crew were also concerned by the fact the skipper was alone on the yacht. “There was a risk that if she had injured herself or fallen off the boat, no one would have been able to operate the radio.

“We were calling every 15 minutes and fortunately, when we were about two miles away, we were able to get a reply. The yacht was making good progress towards Yarmouth and the skipper was unaware we were concerned for her safety but grateful all the same.”

At 4am the crew escorted the yacht up towards the Needles fairway buoy, at which point Yarmouth lifeboat helped take the boat the rest of the way to Yarmouth.