Cowes RNLI lifeboat spent four hours on rescue missions in trying conditions today (Saturday).
The day's first call-outs saw the lifeboat heading to the aid of an injured woman aboard a yacht and escorting to safety a yacht with badly damaged sailing gear.
The lifeboat began its Solent operations at 11.48am after coastguards learned that a woman had fallen down the companion way of a 27-foot yacht between Bramble Bank and Beaulieu River, injuring her elbow.
The lifeboat escorted the yacht to Cowes Yacht Haven, where the woman, who was accompanied on the yacht by three men, received first aid before going on to St Mary’s Hospital in Newport.
Then as the lifeboat was preparing to leave the Yacht Haven it was tasked to go to the aid of a 37-foot yacht that had suffered a partially dislodged mainsail in the western Solent, near Lepe.
The boat, with three men and a woman aboard, was eventually accompanied to Lallow’s Yard in Cowes Harbour.
After hours of battling through a strong easterly wind and often unfavourable tides in the Solent the lifeboat eventually returned to station at 3.45pm.