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The yacht 'Sneeuwgans' set sail from Kwintsheul, Holland, on passage to Rye Harbour. The yacht tried to enter the harbour too early and hit the sand bar in the mouth of the river. The skipper of the yacht decided to return to deeper water to assess the damage to the yacht. The yacht's steering, whilst damaged was not totally useless. Rye Harbour Lifeboat was all geared to undertake an emergency tow should things go wrong when the yacht 'Sneeuwgans' entered the harbour on the flood tide.
Richard Tollett, RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager at Rye Harbour RNLI Lifeboat Station, said: 'The RNLI is a registered charity that saves lives at sea. It provides, on-call, a 24-hour lifeboat search and rescue service to 100 nautical miles out from the coast of the United kingdom and Republic of Ireland. The RNLI which provides nine out of ten sea rescue launches, continues to rely on voluntary contributions and legacies for its income. If the tables were turned, the Dutch Lifeboat service would come to the aid of a UK registered yacht.'