A lone sailor was rescued off the coast of Cork this morning, after his yacht suffered a broken mast plus steering and engine failure after 14 days at sea.

The Courtmacsherry All-Weather Trent Class RNLI Lifeboat was called out at 9.10am, to go to the aid of the 32 ft vessel 15 miles southwest of Courtmacsherry Bay.

The yacht was at sea for the past 14 days while on passage from the Azores to Ireland when the incidents occurred in poor conditions over the past few days. 

Lifeboat Coxswain Kevin Young assessed the situation when they reached the casualty at 10.10am; and a decision was taken to put the Lifeboat towline on board the yacht and proceed under tow to the nearest port of Courtmacsherry. 

They arrived to the Village Pontoon at 1.15pm. 

According to a post on the Courtmacsherry Harbour Lifeboat page: "The skipper of the Yacht suffered the mast break four days ago and without any sleep since in gusting weather, was mighty glad to be on safe grounds of Courtmacsherry after being completely disabled at sea earlier this morning."

The Courtmacsherry RNLI Lifeboat voluntary Lifeboat Operations Manager Brian O'Dwyer said: “We are all so relieved that the crewmen was rescued so quickly this morning and praised the great response of all the crew and officers who left their workplaces and rushed to the station, in order to help a fellow seaman in distress at sea this morning”.

The Courtmacsherry RNLI Lifeboat Crew involved in this morning’s callout were Coxswain Kevin Young, Mechanic Pat Lawton and crewmembers Tadgh McCarthy, Evin O Sullivan and Conor Tyndall.

This was the 17th callout of 2021 for the All-Weather Lifeboat Station in Courtmacsherry.