Wells lifeboats were paged to take two crew off a grounded 28’ yacht Trouncer which had been on passage northward along the Norfolk coast. The yacht had attempted to enter Wells Harbour but was too late on the tide and, with the water ebbing away, took shelter in Holkham Bay. With a strong north-easterly breeze, unfortunately the yacht ran aground and started to list heavily, shipping seas over her gunwale and taking on water.

As it was close to low water, both the inshore and all-Weather lifeboats left the Boathouse at 21:16 and proceeded along the beach toward the casualty. The inshore lifeboat identified the boat with its navigation lights on and arrived on scene at 21:36 to find the yacht hard aground and beam-on to the beach. The tide was receding fast and the ILB crew were able to take the skipper and his crew off the stranded yacht and transfer them to the local Coastguard unit. Although wet, cold and tired they were able to go to the Lifeboat Station and were offered shelter for the night. In the interim the ILB crew rigged the yacht's anchor to seaward.

During the grounding, the yacht had been subject to a lot of wave action and had frequently taken the bottom heavily and awkwardly, and it was uncertain if the wooden vessel had sustained hull or keel damage. With the anchor out to secure the boat and the next high water at 04:00, it was decided to return in daylight to assess the situation with a view to refloat the yacht and bring it under tow of the all-Weather lifeboat into Wells on the afternoon’s high tide. Both lifeboats left the scene at 22:50 and were rehoused by 23:30.

When the crew returned to the scene on Saturday morning they discovered that the yacht had not refloated on the morning's tide and the hull had broken up in the heavy seas and surf conditions, scattering the boat's contents along the tide line.

The lifeboat crew were able to recover the inboard fuel tanks and batteries to minimise the risks of pollution. The life raft was also landed ashore into safe keeping and the crew helped in clearing the beach of debris. They then returned to the boat house at 11:00 to wash down and clean both Lifeboats and the launch and recovery vehicles.

Weather Part cloudy Visibility Good Wind NE5 Sea Slight-Moderate

Humber Coastguard paged Wells Lifeboat for a dinghy with two persons onboard which had capsized in the entrance to Burnham Overy harbour and was getting into difficulties being towed by a support craft. The inshore lifeboat launched outside the boathouse. Arriving on-scene at 09:55, the two persons on the dinghy were transferred to the lifeboat and a crew member placed on-board the dinghy, which was heavily swamped and barely floating. At 10:04, the ILB commenced a tow to the hard at Burnham Overy Staithe but the spring tide was starting to ebb out fast and with the boat heavily laden with water, progress inwards was difficult. At 10:55 it was decided to leave the boat on the adjacent beach and take the casualties to the hard as they were starting to get very cold.

At 11:02 the ILB landed the two casualties safely into the care of the waiting Coastguards who then took them back to the accommodation locally where they were staying. The ILB then returned to the dinghy, which was by this time well up the beach on the ebbing tide, bailed it out and secured it with an anchor for recovery on the following morning’s high tide. The ILB departed a 11:45 and was rehoused, refuelled and ready again for service at 12:30.

Weather Overcast Visibility Good Wind SE4 Sea Slight

Following the morning's ILB launch to the stranded yacht Colchis, both Wells lifeboats launched from the boathouse at 14:00, arriving on-scene at the western end of Scolt Head island at 14:42. The lifeboats then transferred a crew member onto the Colchis and established a tow and refloated the yacht on the rising tide. At 15:40, the all-weather lifeboat proceeded towards Wells harbour with the yacht safely in tow. The yacht was safely moored alongside in the outer harbour at 17:30 and both lifeboats were rehoused and refuelled by 18.20.

Weather Part cloudy Visibility Good Wind NW3 Sea Slight

Humber Coastguard contacted Wells Lifeboat Station at 21:00 on Thursday 5th March to assist in an on-going incident. Hunstanton Lifeboat had earlier been launched to a 9m single-keel yacht Colchis which had run aground on the NW side of Scolt Head island close to the wreck of the SS Vina. The lifeboat had been unable to assist the casualty and in the end the lone yachtsman was airlifted from the yacht for his own safety. Wells lifeboat was asked to see if the yacht could be re-floated on the next tide at 03:00 as the Coastguard had concerns that it could become a danger to navigation.

After discussion and taking the weather conditions into account, it was decided the best course of action was to focus on re-floating the yacht on the afternoon tide on Friday 6th March. The skipper of the yacht keen to be reunited with his boat spent the night getting some rest at Wells boathouse.

On the Friday morning at first light, it was ascertained that the yacht had moved a half mile to the East on the morning high tide but was still firmly aground. The priority was to make sure that the boat had not been damaged during the grounding and to run out an anchor to seaward to aid the re-floating attempts in the afternoon.

To achieve this the ILB crew were paged at 09:15 and launched in Holkham Bay at low water 09:57. The lifeboat arrived on scene at 10:20 and started to assess the situation. At 11:15 with all in order and an anchor deployed, the ILB left the scene and returned to Station, arriving at 11:43.

Weather Part cloudy Visibility Good Wind NW3 Sea Slight