The volunteer lifeboat crew at Portaferry RNLI were called into action on Saturday 22 August to the aid of a 40-foot yacht experiencing steering problems while sailing on Strangford Lough in County Down.
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The Portaferry RNLI Â Atlantic 85 in action.in Strangford Lough.[/caption]
The lifeboat crew were alerted at 4.32pm and the RNLI lifeboat, an Inshore Atlantic 85, was launched at 4.35pm. The volunteer crew were on scene just east of Dead Man’s Rock in Strangford Lough, County Down at 4.50pm where they met the stricken yacht which had four adults and five children on board. At the time the weather was cloudy with rain, a slight breeze and good visibility. Once they had assessed the situation, the RNLI volunteer crew took the yacht alongside and commenced to tow it and the nine people on board to moorings at Ringhaddy. The RNLI crew had the yacht under tow for just under one hour before they were safely returned to the moorings in Ringhaddy and the volunteer Lifeboat crew then left at 5.54pm, returning to station at 7.00pm. Brian Bailie, Lifeboat Operations Manager for the Portaferry RNLI Station, said:  “We had a particularly quick response time today as a number of volunteer crew members were already at the station for a fund raising tractor run.
“Once again the hard work and dedication of our volunteer crew members has resulted in today’s call out culminating in a happy ending with everyone returned home safely.”
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