IN 60mph winds and driving rain, up to 14 members of Minehead’s harbour community battled for over seven hours to save a yacht from being destroyed on rocks after it had been torn from its moorings when Storm Alex struck the area last Friday.

Deputy harbourmaster Craig Butler saw the 21ft yacht Whimsy, owned by local sailor Sean Phillips, was in trouble on its moorings in the harbour at the height of the storm on Friday morning.

“Boats were swinging violently at their moorings,” Craig said. “The swell coming into the harbour was just horrific and water was crashing over the walls onto moored boats.

“This yacht was being swept broadside to the waves and there was nothing anyone could do except hope the mooring chains held and the boat could survive another hour until the tide began to leave the harbour.

“But conditions worsened and got so violent that eventually the new mooring chains holding the boat were actually snapped by the force of wind and waves. No-one had seen anything like it.”

As the tide ebbed, the yacht drifted from the harbour into the open sea. It was caught by the full force of the northerly wind and driven towards the massive rock armour on the south side of the harbour, where it went aground at the foot of the rocks and capsized, ended up lying on its side.

“We knew we had to act quickly to move the boat away from the rocks before the tide returned and smashed it to pieces,” Craig said. “No-one in the harbour community was going to let that happen.”

Read the full story, with more pictures, in tomorrow’s Free Press.