A yacht’s skipper had a lucky escape when his vessel was washed ashore and impaled on a breakwater on Bognor Regis beach.
The captain, 75, is said to have been released from hospital after a check-up following the boat coming ashore at Aldwick last night in ferocious winds and high seas.
The RNLI said it was called to rescue the yachtsman at 11.57pm and the crew launched at 12.20am.
Today onlookers gathered at the scene as plans to extricate the yacht from the breakwater got under way. One onlooker, who said he was a yachtsman, said the vessel would have to be “cut up” before being taken away, such was the extensive damage to the hull.
He said: “I was told the captain was safe and well after being taken to hospital last night when the vessel came ashore. Apparently, the yacht was returning to England from a trip to Norway.
“The breakwater has impaled the hull of the boat and there is no way she can float again. It will have to be cut up before being taken away.”
It is unclear if anyone else was onboard the yacht at the time it was dragged ashore. But Ray Wingate, from Bognor, said he saw a woman on board when he saw the trapped yacht at around lunchtime.
He added: “I walked past about an hour ago and there was a group of people talking to a woman on board. Not sure what happened but it looked like an expensive mistake.”
