On the evening of Wednesday 7 July 2004 The Lizard lifeboat David Robinson was launched to assist the Gellie, a 31 foot yacht with two people on board that had got into trouble in severe weather 35 miles out to sea. The lifeboat launched into storm force conditions, with winds gusting up to 80 mile an hour with seven metre waves.

Coxswain Burgess had to pick his opportunity to launch carefully due to the three metre waves that were sweeping across the slipway but this was accomplished without incident. Shore crew have stated that they were losing sight of the lifeboat in the swell when she was stopped just off the slipway to hoist the aerials and make her ready for sea. By now the wind was gusting at around 65 miles an hour.

Coxswain Burgess requested that Falmouth Coastguard keep a listening watch on the radio due to the distance of the casualty from the coast and the weather conditions the coxswain was expecting to encounter.

Full speed was set towards the casualty; the lifeboat was able to average 18 knots, reaching speeds of 23 knots as she surfed down the steep waves that were six to seven metres in height.

It became apparent that the yacht Gellie was being blown to the south west from her original position. Falmouth Coastguard asked the yacht to try to head back towards the English coast. This she tried to do but was forced to turn down win because of the weather.

Radio contact between the yacht and the lifeboat was established with difficulty at 10.50pm and the lifeboat arrived with the casualty at 11.25pm, spotting the yacht’s lights without too much difficulty. It was pitch dark and they had to illuminate the yacht with the lifeboat’s searchlights. The seas were very rough and the north easterly winds were gale force 10 to storm force 11.

The yacht had a roller reefing headsail and only a small amount of this sail was set. She was hard pressed on a starboard tack. Coxswain Burgess believed from the yacht’s heel that she must be full of water, but the skipper said she was dry and it was just the effect of the wind that was causing her to heel over.

The yacht’s skipper suggested abandoning the craft, but Coxswain Burgess realised that a transfer of personnel would be extremely dangerous in the steep seven metre seas they were experiencing. As the yacht was not taking in water, and the two crew were not injured, Coxswain Burgess felt that the safest course of action would be to tow the casualty to a safe haven. The skipper agreed to this proposal.

Coxswain Burgess asked the skipper to furl the headsail so the towline could be passed. This he did and the yacht then lay beam on to the sea.

The crew of the lifeboat were now working on the deck in ferocious conditions. Seas were breaking over the lifeboat and the wind was making communications very difficult. It was down to good training and teamwork that everyone on board did what was expected of them so well. During this manoeuvre the wind was now assessed to have increased and to be blowing north easterly force 11 to 12.

When the skipper of the Gellie was in position on the foredeck, Coxswain Burgess positioned the lifeboat to windward, off the yacht’s starboard bow and Mechanic Roger Legge threw a heaving line across to the yacht. The skipper of the casualty caught hold of the line and pulled across the towline. He made this fast and the tow was taken up slowly. The evolution of passing the tow took over 30 minutes to complete due to the weather conditions.

Coxswain Burgess told the lifeboat crew to veer out approximately 150 metres of line until the two vessels were riding comfortably and then commenced the tow at two knots. He was very concerned that the towline would part because of the severity of the seas and remained at the upper steering position on deck with Deputy Second Coxswain Sam Ward and Crewman John Bray for the next two hours despite being constantly drenched by the breaking seas coming on board.

As the wind was still severe gale to storm force north easterly, Coxswain Burgess decided that it would be best to tow towards Falmouth, into the weather and thus lessen the motion on the yacht and the strain on the towline. The crew of the lifeboat readied themselves for a very long night.

At approximately 1.30am (now 8 July) Coxswain Burgess was confident enough with the tow to go below to the wheelhouse with his crew. Although all the crew were soaked to the skin, none of them took off their Musto suits and lifejackets, as they were all aware that they might be needed on deck at any moment. Coxswain Burgess was concerned for the yacht because the steep waves were breaking over the lifeboat and conditions on the yacht must have been grim. The two crew had gone below into the cabin but regular radio contact was maintained between the lifeboat and the yacht.

At 5.00am it was beginning to get light, the lifeboat was now around 22 miles from Falmouth and the swell appeared to be decreasing a little although there was still a severe gale blowing. Coxswain Burgess now increased speed to four to five knots and continued his passage.

The lifeboat arrived off Black Rock, Falmouth at 10.10am where she was met by the harbour launch. The tow was passed to the launch and the Gellie was taken and moored in a marina. The weather was still much too severe to enable the lifeboat to re-house at The Lizard station so she was refuelled and placed on the lifeboat mooring in Falmouth harbour.

The crew returned home by road. The lifeboat was collected and returned to station as soon as the weather abated.