#RNLI - The volunteer lifeboat crew with Red Bay RNLI in Co Antrim were paged on Friday evening (12 September) at 6.55pm to a lone sailor on a 22ft yacht who got into difficulty in strong tides off the North Antrim coast.
The sailor had left Portrush for Bangor at 7am that morning and requested assistance from Belfast Coastguard later in the day after he was unable to make any headway in the seas.
The lifeboat had difficulty locating the vessel due to fog and the fact that the tides had pushed the boat some four miles off course south of Rathlin Island.
However, once located, the yacht was towed by the Red Bay lifeboat crew to Cushendall, arriving at 9.45pm.
Red Bay RNLI spokesman Paddy McLaughlin commented: "Tonight's call out was made more difficult due to the strong tides and fog but we were able to locate the sailor using our onboard VHF direction-finding equipment and radar."
The volunteer lifeboat crew from Cushendall have been kept busy over the past few months answering a large number of emergency calls off the North Antrim coast.