TWO Hampshire men gave up hopes of victory in a yacht race to help rescue three divers at sea.

Martyn Hindley and Jonathan Enderby abandoned racing after spotting a woman waving a flag aboard a small boat in Weymouth Bay.

Both men, from Upper Wield, near Alresford, members of Royal Southampton Yacht Club, were competing aboard Tosara Blue in a 50-mile race from the Solent to Weymouth.

As they approached, the distressed woman reported her husband and two friends had gone over the side 60 minutes earlier.

Wearing no lifejacket, she had lost her glasses over the side and could not see to work the radio to call assistance. The coastguard helicopter and Weymouth lifeboat were scrambled and the three divers were spotted on the surface about half a mile away.

The pair still crossed the finish line to be able to secure third place, after race organisers gave a time allowance for their part in the rescue.

Full story in today's Daily Echo.