A CORK RNLI crew last night came to the assistance of two sailors who had run into challenging weather during their crossing of the Atlantic.

The couple, who are based in the US, had set out in their yacht from Boston a number of weeks ago and were crossing the Atlantic en route to Scotland.

At 5.30pm yesterday, the Irish Coast Guard’s Marine Research Coordination Centre in Valentia advised the yacht to change course and make for Castletownbere due to deteriorating weather conditions.

Weather conditions became increasingly challenging over the course of the evening and Castletownbere lifeboat ‘Annette Hutton’ was tasked at 10pm. It was launched immediately under the command of Coxswain Dean Hegarty with crew Dave O’Donovan, David Lynch, Marc O’Hare, Donagh Murphy and Dion Kelly.

The yacht was located at 10.46pm ten miles South-West of Castletownbere. The RNLI said conditions were Westerly Force 6/7 winds and there was a three metre sea swell.

A local fishing boat assisted while the lifeboat escorted the yacht. Once in calmer waters, a lifeboat volunteer went aboard to assist with berthing the yacht at Castletownbere pier.

The two sailors had refreshments in the lifeboat when they got to shore and expressed their gratitude to everyone who had offered them assistance.

“It was so reassuring to see the lifeboat coming – we were tired and sea conditions were challenging and we are so delighted to be safe and on dry land now,” one said.

This was Castletownbere lifeboat second call-out in two days – on Saturday, the lifeboat was involved in a multi-agency search for a missing person in the Ballylickey area.