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Displaying items by tag: Tiree

Just after midnight (16 February) the UK Coastguard received a Mayday emergency call from a yacht which was in difficulties and had run aground near Skerryvore Light, near the Isle of Tiree off the west coast of Scotland. There was one man on board with no reported injuries.

A Mayday relay was broadcast by the Coastguard requesting assistance and a commercial cable laying vessel made its way to the area and provided some shelter from the weather.

The Islay RNLI all-weather lifeboat was sent and has been on scene attempting to secure a line to the vessel since 3:30am. Barra RNLI Lifeboat has also been sent to assist.

The UK Coastguard search and rescue helicopter based at Prestwick successfully airlifted the yachtsman to safety just after midday. He does not require any medical attention.

UK Coastguard Maritime Operations Controller, Angus MacIver said: 'The winds in the area were gusting at severe gale force with extremely rough seas which created a very testing environment in which this rescue could be carried out. The yachtsman is now being airlifted ashore and the RNLI lifeboats are returning to base.'

Published in Coastguard
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Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.