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Guernsey Coastguard's new position at the Harbour Signal Station was put to the test this weekend, with the lifeboat called out to help the "exhausted crew" on a broken down boat.
The successful mission saw the UK registered sailing vessel towed into St Peter Port Harbour on Sunday night.
The St Peter Port All Weather Lifeboat was put to sea after the captain of the 30ft UK boat made a VHF radio call asking for help shortly after 20:00.
The vessel had suffered engine failure whilst sailing from Cherbourg to Guernsey, and although it was still making its own way under sail and had managed to get to around 3.5 nautical miles north east of Herm before the two people on board ran out of energy themselves.
A spokesperson for Guernsey Coastguard said they were "exhausted" and "unsure if they could make it to St Peter Port without assistance".
The crew of the Spirit of Guernsey were paged and launched to help out - reaching them before 21:00.
At first the lifeboat crew simply escorted the sailing boat towards the pier heads but as it became apparent that it was struggling against the increasing flood tide a lifeboat crewmember climbed aboard while the vessel was towed in.
The lifeboat and sailing vessel were both in St Peter Port harbour shortly after 22:30.
Pictured: St Peter Port Harbour.
Guernsey Coastguard - which coordinates rescue missions - and Guernsey Port’s Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) were recently united under one roof as part of a new Maritime Operations Centre at St Peter Port Harbour.
The centre is equipped with multi-site radar capability, satellite tracking, CCTV, maritime VHF radio, and electronic and paper charts. It also has equipment for conducting search and rescue missions, and a dedicated space from which these operations can be controlled.
This can be used as a ‘Tactical Command Suite’ in the event of an emergency at sea requiring a multi-agency response.
Guernsey Ports said this reflects the approach adopted in other jurisdictions, including Jersey, where there is already dedicated operations centres combining VTS and Coastguard.
Coastguard and VTS to work together
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