Thurso lifeboat sent to lone Swedish sailor off north coast
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The Thurso RNLI lifeboat, The Taylors, rushed to the scene after family members and the Coastguard were unable to make contact with a lone sailor off the north coast on Sunday.
It is understood the family had been trying to make contact with the man for a couple of days and notified HM Coastguard, who also failed to make contact.
The Swedish registered 16-metre yacht was located approximately 23 miles west of Holborn Head and travelling at 5 knots, according to AIS Marine Traffic.
A couple of passing ships had also tried to make contact with the yacht by blasting their horns.
The Taylors was launched at 5.29pm – just five minutes after crews were paged – and was on scene at 6.21pm. The crew made contact with the occupant and established that he was fit and well. The sailor informed the crew that he had lost his main form of communications and was left with a hand-held radio and a mobile phone, both of which were out of the range of a signal.
The crew of The Taylors informed HM Coastguard that all was well and requested they inform the family what had happened. The yacht then continued en route to Sweden.
The Taylors returned to Scrabster at 7.40pm and was refuelled and made ready for service at 8pm.
Coxswain Gordon Munro said he was delighted with the outcome and at one point feared that the sailor may have taken ill with the yacht still in auto pilot. It will be a great relief for the sailors' family to hear that all is well, he said.
