The Dunmore East lifeboat rescued a lone sailor on a yacht over the weekend.

The 10m vessel lost its rudder and was around 15 miles South West of Dunmore East at the time.

The lifeboat was alerted at 10.30am yesterday morning.

The volunteer crew of the Trent Class Dunmore East RNLI lifeboat ‘Elizabeth and Ronald’ located the stricken yacht drifting towards the shore with a strong southerly wind.

Once on scene, the lifeboat crew established a tow with the yacht but the initial tow was difficult due to the lack of steerage on the rudderless yacht.

The lifeboat crew then passed a sea anchor or drogue to the casualty vessel and was trailed astern of the yacht which stabilised the yacht enough to enable a safe tow.

The vessel was then towed to the safety of Dunmore East Harbour, at 2:15 pm.

David O’ Halloran, RNLI Crewmember for Dunmore East RNLI, said: ‘conditions at sea were challenging for our volunteer crew. We train for this type of call and we all worked very well together to ensure a successful outcome.’