Lifeboat Prevents a Cat-astrophe!

The 18th of April was Good Friday but it nearly turned into a very BAD day for one particular sailor... and his cat! Luckily, the St Peter Port lifeboat crew arrived on the scene with purr-fect timing. Read on to find out more (we promise to stop with the cat puns). 

The sailor, who has not been named, began his journey at Falmouth, which is located on the coast of Cornwall. Weather conditions quickly deteriorated and visibility became extremely poor. All of the navigation equipment on board the vessel, named 'Dasher', suddenly failed and, after trying unsuccessfully for some time to fix the problems, the sailor was left feeling tired and thoroughly disorientated.

At around 11am, Dasher put out a mayday distress call. Immediately after this, the Guernsey Coastguard attempted to establish a connection with the sailor. Though this was achieved, the connection was described as being 'extremely poor'.

Through the crackly and wavering transmission, the Guernsey Coastguard learned about the failure of Dasher's crucial navigation system. They also discovered that the sailor believed he was approximately six nautical miles north of Guernsey when the navigation equipment failed.

Dasher's PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) was received at a location that was established to be around eight nautical miles from Casquets Lighthouse in a south-westerly direction. The St Peter Port lifeboat, along with an airborne team from Channel Islands Air Search (CIAS), headed straight for the location.   

When they arrived, the lifeboat team detected a radar target which was located two nautical miles further north of the coordinates given by the PLB. A team member aboard the CIAS aircraft visually confirmed that the radar target was indeed Dasher. The lifeboat quickly approached the troubled vessel and began towing it back to St Peter Port.    

During the towing process, Dasher began taking on water. This problem was, however, swiftly solved by transferring a salvage pump and crew to the vessel. Dasher arrived safely back on dry land at 4:30pm. 

Though the sailor and his cat were described as being 'cold, wet and fatigued' by lifeboat crew members, both suffered no injuries. They spent the night on a yacht named 'Jappeloup', which was moored in the harbour.

This was a truly heartwarming story and only strengthens our pride in the rich maritime heritage of our beautiful island and it's people. We have been working in this sector for more than five decades and will continue to deliver our suite of world-class marine services both here in our native Guernsey and beyond to the rest of the world. 

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