British Coast Guard rescues moored sailors

Two British sailors were rescued from inside their J133 recently as it sat on its mooring in the Lymington River in southern England. Someone had noticed that the yacht was sailing in the Solent and into the Lymington River without anyone on deck or in the cockpit. To outside observers it appeared as if the yacht’s occupants had fallen overboard. The local authorities launched a rescue boat, a customs launch and a helicopter to chase the J133 and determine what had happened. Apparently, when the authorities caught up to the boat, it was already on its mooring. Turns out the boat had been steered from belowdecks using an autopilot. The sailors had no idea they were the object of a roughly $10,000 rescue operation. The authorities have noted that the sailors failed to comply with nautical rules of the road that requires mariners to maintain a proper lookout and they failed to respond to calls on VHF radio. The sailors have reportedly not been charged with any wrong doing.