#LIFEBOATS - The crew of the Sligo Bay RNLI lifeboat rescued two people from a 31ft Norwegian flagged yacht at the weekend.
The volunteer lifeboat crew was tasked by Malin Head coastguard shortly after 3.30pm on Saturday 18 August following a report that the vessel had got into difficulty.
Crew on board the inshore lifeboat Elsinore proceeded to the scene eight miles off Ballyconnell in Co Sligo. Weather conditions were good at the time with strong tides.
A man and a woman onboard the yacht had been on passage from the Labrador Coast in Canada on the final stretch of a voyage from their home in Oslo via the Caribbean and the east coast of America when they got into difficulty across the Atlantic.
Both of the yacht’s main sails were shredded in a gale and it subsequently suffered engine failure.
Arriving on scene, the lifeboat crew established a tow and took the vessel into Sligo Harbour, arriving after three hours. When the yacht was safely secured, the couple were brought into the Sligo Bay station where they were made comfortable.
Sligo Bay RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager Willie Murphy said: "The couple were tired after being at sea for 21 days but were in good spirits. They were extremely grateful to the crew for their service and to all at the station for their assistance after."
This is the second time this summer that Sligo RNLI has had connections with Norwegian sailors.
In June, a 30-strong Norwegian shanty choir attended Rosses Points RNLI Shanty Festival to sing a song they had specially composed to commemorate the saving of a Norwegian crew off a shipwrecked sailing barque in the late 1800s on Coney Island in Sligo Bay.
