A Swedish couple rescued from mountainous seas and severe gale 9 say they owe their lives to Dunbar’s RNLI lifeboat crew. Jonas and Ingrid Akerblom were 37 miles North East of Dunbar on Friday night when they put out a distress call as their 24 foot boat was battered by 10 metre high waves.

RNLI lifeboat coxswain Gary Fairbairn said conditions were the worst he had seen and the Dunbar’s boats speed was restricted to just 15 knots as he fought huge seas to reach the stricken yacht. It took the Dunbar boat, the John Neville Taylor, three hours to reach the casualty where an ocean going tug was standing by.

Coxswain Fairbairn said:

'I spoke to the captain of the tug and between us it was clear the yacht could not be towed. We told the yacht skipper he had to abandon his vessel and we would leave it drifting. He came back and accepted our advice. “I asked them to get into their life raft so we could pick them up but they didn’t have one, and in fact only had one buoyancy aid between the two of them.

'The only option for us was to get alongside and take them off – but the seas were horrific and the wind was increasing whilst we were there.'

The yacht did not have any sails up and was lying broadside on to the breaking seas forcing the lifeboat to turn across the waves too. One the first attempt to get alongside a huge wave crashed over the lifeboat turning it completely onto its side. The portside windows of the wheelhouse were below water.

Mr Fairbairn added:

'As we came back up again I could see a gap in the waves and went straight back round getting alongside the yacht.

As we passed one of the crew, Stuart Pirrie, reached out and grabbed the woman and hauled her over out guard rails into the safety of the lifeboat. I went back round again and this time Stuart managed to snatch the skipper in the same manner.'

The couple had spend six years building the yacht and the disaster came on their first leg of what they hoped would be a 14 month voyage round Europe and out to the Azores. Lifeboat Mechanic Kenny Peters said the Swedes were pretty upset as they left the yacht behind not knowing if they would ever see it again.

Said Kenny:

'They came off the boat with only the clothes they stood up in but they were hugely relieved to be in the safety of the lifeboat.'

The lifeboat then ran before the sea back to Torness at times reaching a speed of 32 knots compared to its normal maximum of 28 as it surfed down the giant waves.

Yacht skipper Jonas Akerblom, aged 46, a musical instrument maker from Gothenburg said:

'It was not a hard decision when we were told we had to leave the boat. But it was very sad as it took us six years to build the boat and we did not know if we would see it again. The weather hit us without a great deal of warning. If I had known how bad it was going to get I would have turned round and gone further out to sea when conditions would have been better.'

His wife, 50 year old tram driver Ingrid said as she fought back tears:

'We could both have died out there, that is quite clear. It was very frightening and we are extremely grateful to the lifeboat crew for rescuing us.'

The pair have been staying ion the Bayswell Hotel in Dunbar with their bill being paid for by the lifeboat crew. D

unbar RNLI station chairman David Johnston said:

'To carry out this recue required skill and seamanship of the highest order. Bringing the lifeboat alongside it the conditions of Friday night was extremely difficult but Gary was faced with no alternative if he was to get this couple off their boat and into safety.

'Gary, Kenny and Stuart, along with the rest of the crew that night, Brian Cleator, Kevin Keillor and John Watt, deserve the highest praise for carrying out this service which will go down in the folklore of the Dunbar station.'

Coastguards broadcast warnings to shipping in the Firth of Forth area that the yacht, he Ouhm, was drifting without crew on board. The boat was eventually spotted heading to rocks near Arbroath Harbour. As it neared the shore a drogue deployed the night before to help sklow down its drift snagged the bottom and prevented the yacht being smashed up on the rocks. It was recovered by Arbroath’s RNLI Inshore Rescue Boat and the couple are now deciding what to do next.

Ends Further info: David Johnston 01620 880 28 07884230914