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Rescued twice on a trip to Portsmouth

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Engine trouble: The Vita Lote II

Engine trouble: The Vita Lote II

A YACHTSMAN had to be rescued twice in one week after he attempted to sail 300 miles along Britain’s coast using nothing but a mobile phone app to navigate.

The hapless sailor was trying to sail his 32ft yacht single-handedly from Milford Haven to Portsmouth when he got stuck in shallow water in Poole Harbour, The Daily Mail has reported.

A week previously he had been towed into St Ives, Cornwall, after getting into trouble a mile from the seaside holiday town.

Lifeboat crews said they had to tow the boat and its exhausted skipper to the safety of a nearby marina in Poole, following the most recent rescue. Coastguards then visited the vessel, where they discovered the man had been using an app on his phone to work out his route along the coast.

They also found that the skipper, in his 40’s, had 27 out-of-date emergency flares on board the boat – some which were more than 13 years out of date. According to The Mail, he had not used a passage plan for his trip and had not told coastguards about his trip.

The week before two lifeboat crews from St Ives were called out after the engine on the yacht, which is named the Vita Lote II, stopped working. They found the yacht drifting perilously close to rocks but were able to take it back to the safety of the harbour.

It is understood the man, who was described as an experienced sailor, bought the yacht in Oban, Scotland, last year and had then sailed it to Milford Haven to spend the winter there.

He was making his way to Portsmouth when the incidents occurred.

On both occasions the man raised the alarm with the coastguard.

The first incident took place on June 8 and the sailor was rescued again on Monday. Coastguards were so concerned about him they gave him a safety briefing and checked over his equipment including his lifejacket and radio.

A spokesman for St Ives lifeboat crew said: “While out on exercise the all-weather lifeboat and inshore lifeboat were tasked to a yacht that was in difficulty half a mile north of Hor Point. The yacht being close to the shore and with a strong northerly wind blowing the inshore lifeboat was tasked to go and stand by the vessel to wait for the all-weather lifeboat to arrive and attach a tow line.

The spokesman added: “The all-weather lifeboat arrived on scene shortly after and attached a tow line and bought the casualty vessel and two persons onboard into St. Ives.”

After rescuing the sailor again a week later, a spokesman for Poole coastguard said: “We were paged to meet a vessel at Salterns Marina which had run aground in Poole Harbour and needed some safety advice. The vessel was using an 2014 almanac and an app on a mobile phone to navigate from Cornwall to Portsmouth. It turned out he had already been seen by the RNLI down south so seeing us was nothing uncommon to him.”

Allan Norman, of the Marine Coastguard Agency, said: “In this case the skipper had been caught out by the weather. He was singlehanded and had been sailing for quite a long time, so he was exhausted. He was using a navigation app on his mobile phone but he did have the right equipment on board. He was quite experienced so our advice to him was to make sure he got enough rest and to call us with his passage plan in future.”

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Rugby Weekly – Tenby’s promotion push continues

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It’s crunch time for all rugby clubs around the county, whether promotion is their aim or fighting relegation or even just trying to improve their league position, it’s now or never. 

Last weekend saw an important win for Fishguard in division two west which should put any relegation fears to bed completely. James Griffiths added an impressive 18 points for the Seagulls as they defeated Nantgaredig 33-19. 

Elsewhere in the second division, Milford were beaten 32-8 by a good Lampeter outfit. The Mariners are still a little too close for comfort with the drop zone but should have enough quality to see them safe. 

At the other end of the table Tenby sit in second place and have played fewer games than leaders St Clears and third place Lampeter. They won impressively again last weekend, beating Pontyberem 64-19 at Haywood Lane. Fletcher Broadhurst impressed with two tries as did Hywel Baker who also grabbed himself a brace. Another excellent performance in an outstanding season so far in which promotion would be the absolute icing on the cake. 

In Division Three West, Pembroke were well beaten by Laugharne 74-15 in which the outstanding Liam Price and Nico Setaro both crossed the whitewash 4 teams a piece. The latter also added 7 successful conversions. 

There was a local derby at Pill Parks where Llangwm hosted Pembroke Dock Quins and it was an exciting clash. The visitors won narrowly 28-23, Craig Barnett and Gethin Bradney both scored two tries for the Quins. The Wasps battled hard and will be proud of their performance, Gethin Thomas impressed for the hosts with two tries of his own but it wasn’t enough to secure the points. 

St David’s hosted the high flying Cardigan outfit and were unable to score in reply to the visitors 20 points, with it ending 20-0. The Saints however won’t be losing too much sleep over it as they have had a great season so far. 

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Stephen Crabb leads inquiry on retaining community bank services  

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PRESELI Pembrokeshire MP, and Chair of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee Stephen Crabb is leading an inquiry in Parliament that will investigate the closure of high street banks in Wales, as well as access to cash.

In November 2023, Pembrokeshire saw the closure of Lloyds Bank in St Davids, and in the coming months both Barclays Bank and Halifax in Haverfordwest are set to close. In recent years, Wales has experienced a rapid decline in the number of high street banking services available to the public. Already in 2024, 23 high street bank closures have been announced in Wales, while automated teller machines (ATMs) declined by nearly a quarter between 2018 and 2023.

The Committee willconsider how declining high street banking services are impacting vulnerable people and small businesses across Wales, who are often more reliant on cash than digital banking. It will also examine how Wales is being affected by the loss of high street bank services, and whether the problem is worse in Wales than other parts of the UK.

Mr Crabb is a staunch advocate for retaining community banking facilities, especially in rural communities like Pembrokeshire where many local branches remain the only source of face-to-face banking provision for miles.

Recently Mr Crabb challenged Barclays Bank senior management on their decision to close the bank branch in Haverfordwest– a move that will see Barclays not only pull out of the county town, but means they won’t have a branch left anywhere in Pembrokeshire. He has also engaged with LINK – the UK’s largest cash machine network – and continues to campaign on the basis that a Banking Hub is established and that ATM machines should be retained or installed, especially in areas worst affected by the closures.  

Following the launch of the inquiry, MP Crabb added: “It is really sad to see so many banks across Wales closing as online banking grows in popularity. Despite the advantages of online banking, for a rural community with an ageing population like Pembrokeshire, bank branches hold huge importance as they offer face-to-face customer service.”

“I am acutely aware of the inconvenience that the bank closures locally have already caused following hundreds of replies from constituents to my ‘online banking survey’ ”

“I am looking forward to gathering further evidence on this subject through the committee’s inquiry, and will continue to put pressure on the relevant stakeholders to ensure that adequate alternative provisions are made through the establishment of banking hubs as well as the instalment of ATM machines where necessary.”

“In this inquiry, we are particularly keen to hear from those likely to be directly affected by the shift away from cash and physical banks. I encourage anyone with first-hand experience of losing banking services to give evidence to the Committee”

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Trains resume between Carmarthen and Pembroke Dock as works end

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TRAIN services resumed this morning (Thursday 28 March) after ten days of essential round-the-clock work to upgrade track and drainage between Carmarthen and Pembroke Dock.

The railway was closed from Monday 18 March to Wednesday 27 March to allow Network Rail teams to replace more than 200 metres of track and 300 tonnes of ballast (track stones) between Pembroke station and Pembroke Dock.

Work to improve the drainage between Narbeth and Kilgetty stations was also completed at the same time.

Nick Millington, Network Rail Wales and Borders route director, said: “This essential work in Pembrokeshire demonstrates our commitment to improving the reliability of the service we provide to passengers along our route.

“We know that replacing the track can be disruptive and very noisy, so I would like to thank the residents of Pembroke for their patience while our team carried out this crucial work.”

Colin Lea, Planning and Performance Director at Transport for Wales said: “We’re pleased that our colleagues in Network Rail have completed this essential work and that Transport for Wales rail services resumed today.

“We’d like to thank passengers for their patience while this work has progressed and look forward to welcoming passengers back in time for the Easter weekend.”

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