Castletownbere RNLI lifeboat spent over 12 hours at sea rescuing a yacht which had become demasted in storm-force conditions, it has emerged.

The Castletownbere lifeboat, the Annette Hutton, was launched early yesterday morning when Valentia Coastguard Radio requested assistance to a yacht in difficulties 45 miles south of Mizen head in West Cork.

The eight-metre yacht, with one person on board, had left the Azores in early August and ran into difficulties yesterday.

The sailor, aged in his 60s, had been in regular radio contact with Valentia Coastguard radio until this morning when his VHF radio was washed overboard.

He activated an EPIRB to identify his location, raise the alarm and seek help.

The lifeboat, under the command of Coxswain Brian O’Driscoll, was launched at 8am and located the man at 10.40am, 50 miles south-west of Castletownbere.

The Coastguard helicopter was also on scene.

Conditions were described as ‘gusting Force 8/9 winds with a 30-foot swell’.

The yacht was taken under tow and the lifeboat proceeded slowly to Castletownbere in challenging sea conditions.

Early into the tow, lifeboat crew became concerned about the wellbeing of the sailor and crew managed to transfer him to the lifeboat.

The lifeboat, with the damaged yacht in tow, returned to Castletownbere at 8.30pm having been at sea for 12 and a half hours.

Yesterday evening the sailor thanked the Castletownbere lifeboat and all involved for “saving his life”.

He said: “…only for the lifeboat, things would have ended up very badly today”.

Commenting on the call-out, lifeboat operations manager Tony O’Sullivan said: “The coxswain and crew are to be complimented on today’s rescue – they demonstrated skill, seamanship and endurance during what was a long and challenging day.”