Capsized sailor and his dog adrift for 30 hours off the coast of Troon

A MAN and his dog spent 30 hours adrift in a liferaft off the coast of Scotland after their boat overturned, it emerged yesterday.

The sailor abandoned his yacht after it capsized and drifted for more than a day before he was eventually rescued off the coast of Troon.

Emergency services were alerted by a flare sighted west of Troon and a rescue operation swung into action, co-ordinating the efforts of the police, ambulance, Ayr coastguard, a Coastguard rescue helicopter and the Troon lifeboat.

A spokesman for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) said: “It is estimated that the man and his dog had been adrift and launching distress flares for 30 hours. A flare had been spotted by a member of the public and the crew arrived on scene in the nick of time.”

Details of the rescue, which happened in July, emerged in the latest report by the RNLI yesterday, which found that Troon was the busiest station during the three summer months with 25 call-outs, three more than last year.

Joe Millar, the coxswain of the Troon lifeboat, said: “It has been an unusually busy summer. We have been called out to a variety of yachts and small pleasure craft, including a windsurfer. We have been consistently called out to incidents to the north and south of the station.”

The report found Scotland’s volunteer lifeboat crews have had their busiest summer for call-outs for six years.

Scottish crews launched their lifeboats an average of almost five times a day between June and September as the RNLI’s 46 stations responded to a total of 417 emergency calls – their highest total since a record 462 call-outs in 2006.

The biggest increase in response calls was recorded by lifeboat stations along Scotland’s west coast as temperatures soared in the area.

The Tobermory station crew responded to 15 incidents, compared to only two call-outs last year. And the number of call-outs at Campbeltown doubled from seven in 2011 to 14 this year. An RNLI spokesman said: “The increase in activity coincided with a period of good weather along the west coast of Scotland, where the stations were busier than normal. Much of the rest of Scotland endured a wet summer and there were fewer call-outs for some of the stations.

“The busiest station in the summer was Troon with 25 shouts, an increase of three on 2011. The busiest inshore station was Queensferry where the volunteers had 21 shouts, a drop of four compared with 2011.”

He continued: “Significant increases were experienced by the RNLI at its stations in Largs, Mallaig, Tobermory and Campbeltown, on the west coast. The charity’s newest lifeboat station, at Leverburgh on the Isle of Harris, had seven shouts.

“Stations in the far north at Wick, Thurso, the Orkney and Shetland islands were all quieter than in 2011, while there was a mixed picture along the east coast.”

On the east coast, Broughty Ferry, normally one of Scotland’s busiest stations, saw the number of call-outs fall from 32 to 22, while the number of call-outs at Aberdeen rose from ten to 13.

Paul Jennings, the RNLI’s divisional inspector for Scotland, paid tribute to the crews.

He said: “Once again, our volunteer lifeboat crews in Scotland have shown that they are committed and courageous individuals, on stand-by to save lives at sea, come rain or shine.