The Summer Solstice saw a seven hour rescue around 55 miles off the North East coast when a 47ft sailing vessel encountered a broken rudder.
The component is used to steer a ship and sits near the stern of a vessel and had become damaged while out at sea. This risked opening a hole in the bottom of the yacht causing water to enter and sink the vessel. But thanks to the rescue efforts of Tynemouth's Severn Class all-weather lifeboat and its crew, the vessel and those onboard were brought to safety.
RNLI's Tynemouth all-weather lifeboat and eight crew onboard, launched at 12.35am on Wednesday to locate the yacht that had declared an urgent Pan-Pan. The lifeboat made best speed to their location, arriving around two and a half hours later.
