Yacht washed ashore on Middleton Beach rocks with nobody aboard is rescued, re-floated and towed to safety

A yacht that had an unlucky end to an outing off Middleton Beach over the Labour Day long weekend has been towed back to its berth at the Princess Royal Sailing Club after crashing on to rocks.

Albany Volunteer Marine Rescue confirmed there was nobody aboard when the boat hit the rocks just off Middleton Beach on Saturday night.

The rescue crew were notified of the wreck but as they found it without any people onboard and there was no threat to anyone’s life or safety, they left the yacht where it was.

A Department of Transport spokesperson said officers checked the site of the wreck on Sunday and put an isolated danger mark in place to identify the vessel as a possible hazard for other boats and water users, but did not assist in removing the vessel.

Local skipper Colin Bairstow came with his boat to collect the yacht on Monday morning, with the owner removing all hazardous materials like diesel and oil and as much of their equipment as they could to prepare the vessel for towing.

Several tyre linings were also inflated and attached to the yacht to give it better buoyancy for its trip across Princess Royal Harbour to the Princess Royal Sailing Club in Little Grove.

Mr Bairstow and his crew dislodged the yacht from the rocks and slowly towed it back to the sailing club, where the vessel was floated on to a slip berth and then taken out of the water for its owners to assess the damage.