RNLI rescues Swedish couple 'in 10 metre swells'

11:37 PM Sat 16 May 2009 GMT

'Swedish yacht rescue - they had almost crossed the North Sea' .

Gary Fairbairn, RNLI coxswain, quoted 10 metre swells as 'the worst sea we have ever been out in' when they rescued a Swedish couple with only one life jacket between them from their yacht in the North Sea this week.

The bad weather forced the couple to abandon their yacht and transfer to the lifeboat. The conditions meant the 24ft vessel could not be towed and the pair were rescued 25 miles north east of Dunbar just south of the Firth of Forth in Scotland.

Jonas and Ingrid Akerblom from Gothenburg, were sailing from Denmark to the Firth of Forth at the start of a planned 14-month trip.

But just days into their journey they ran into difficulties and Forth Coastguard were called out just after 1700 BST on Friday.

Gary Fairbairn said there were severe gale-force winds and a 10m swell at sea. 'It's the worst sea that we have ever been out in,' he said.

'When we reached the yacht we decided it was impossible to tow them because of the weather conditions.'

He said the lifeboat crew then discovered the couple had only one life jacket between them.

'We decided we had no choice but to go alongside the yacht and bring them aboard the lifeboat,' he said. 'The first time we tried our lifeboat was hit by a massive wave, which knocked it right over onto its side.

'Once the boat righted itself we went back for another attempt and this time we managed to get within inches of the yacht and snatched the wife off the boat and into the safety of the lifeboat. We then did the same again with her husband.'

Because Mr Akerblom, 46, and his wife, 50, came off the boat with only the clothes they were wearing, the lifeboat crew paid for them to stay in a hotel in nearby Dunbar. They were uninjured.

by BW media roundup

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RNLI rescues Swedish couple 'in 10 metre swells'

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