The RNLI all weather lifeboat at New Quay received a challenging call on Sunday, July 19 to search for a broken down yacht, the Jon Quille, in an unknown location somewhere off Aberporth.

The lifeboat launched at 9.45pm with coxswain Daniel Potter at the helm accompanied by Ben Billingham, Brett Stones, Peter Yates, Mike Evans, Huw Williams and Thomas Davies.

After searching extensively off Aberporth the yacht was eventually sighted eight miles off shore and put under tow.

The excitement did not, however, stop there. The yacht after a while was taking on water and began to sink whereupon two RNLI crewmen were put aboard with a salvage pump to tackle the problem.

At midnight the inshore lifeboat was launched with Bernard Davies at the helm to give assistance in case of further complications.

The Jon Quille was then carefully towed into New Quay harbour and the RNLI crews stood down between 2 and 3am.

Daniel Potter commented: "It was a long night but a successful one. The crews of our two lifeboats responded well and did a very professional job. It also turned out to be a good training exercise because we were able to practice our skills in pumping out a stricken vessel.

The Jon Quille is an 8.5 metre yacht which was undertaking a passage with three crew in several legs from Brighton to Blackpool. The breakdown was an engine fault and this was being repaired in New Quay harbour on the following day. Yacht crew member Daniel Carter said: “The lifeboat was a welcome sight and the crew had a very disciplined approach. They were extremely helpful and polite despite being called out late into the night.”