This afternoon Solent Coastguard were contacted by the crew of a yacht reporting that they had just recovered a 72 year old man from the water off the Isle of Wight Coast

Mark Leach and his family were out for a days sailing on their 33′yacht Timolisa when they came across a man floating face down in the water about 1.3 miles west of Cowes harbour entrance. 

After contacting Solent Coastguard for assistance, Mark jumped into the water and with the help of his son and wife recovered the man to the swimming platform at the rear of his yacht.

The rescued man was in control of a yellow motorboat when he was spotted in difficulties by Mark on his yacht, it appeared that the vessel had been snagged at the stern and was sinking fast.  This resulted in the man ending up in the water. Mark steamed over to his position and was able to perform the rescue.

The man was unconscious when he was recovered. Solent Coastguard called out the Bembridge Coastguard Rescue Team, scrambled the Coastguard Rescue Helicopter “Whiskey Bravo” and alerted the Isle of Wight ambulance service.

When the helicopter arrived on scene, Mark and his family were exhausted from the rescue so a nearby fishing vessel called Provider gave assistance in using their boat as a platform for the helicopter to recover the man.

Nigel Guyll, Duty Watch Manager, Solent Coastguard said:

“The family who rescued this man saved his life. Their actions in alerting the Coastguard to this incident before attempting the rescue were entirely appropriate. The man was taken to a hospital on the Isle of Wight where he is recovering from his ordeal.”

Island Pulse