AN inexperienced sailor who ran into trouble on one of his first trips aboard his newly-acquired yacht sparked a lengthy mission for Minehead’s volunteer RNLI lifeboat crew on Saturday.

The man was heading for Watchet marina with three other yachts from Cardiff when he experienced trouble with his rigging and ended up aground on Dunster beach.

Minehead’s two lifeboats were launched in mid-afternoon, the crews answering their fourth call in a week, but found the yacht already high, dry and immoveable.

Lifeboat helmsman Andrew Escott said: “All we could really do was help him sort out his sails and put a couple of anchors out so he would float off safely when the tide came back in, and then return to station.”

The station’s Atlantic 85 lifeboat launched again later in the evening to escort the yacht into Watchet marina, returning to station shortly before midnight.

­ The previous day, a couple whose cabin cruiser broke down in choppy seas were rescued by Minehead’s lieboat crew.

The pair, from East Brent, were on their way from Combwich to Minehead harbour on Friday morning when their engine failed due to fuel problems as they were passing Blue Anchor.

They radioed coastguards for help and Minehead’s Atlantic 85 lifeboat was launched just after 1pm, taking the boat in tow and arriving back in Minehead an hour later.