LIFEBOAT crews were called to a series of separate rescues within hours of each other on the Solent.

Colleagues from the RNLI Yarmouth all weather lifeboat abandoned an Easter rowing competition they were taking part in to attend three incidents yesterday.

The five strong crew were midway through the Easter Saturday River Yar rowing race at 2.30pm when they received their first distress call.

They raced back to shore before setting out from the lifeboat station to help sailors whose yacht had crashed in the Needles channel.

The vessel had torn a hole in its bow after hitting a navigational mark on its way to Portugal.

They put an emergency pump onboard to stabilise it before towing it towards Lymington.

Enroute they received another call at 4.30pm from a French yacht and transferred their tow to the Lymington in-shore lifeboat.

The French crews had got a rope stuck around their propeller in the Hurst Narrows in the western Solent and were unable to make progress against a strong ebb tide under sale.

After towing it to Yarmouth they immediately received another call at 6.30pm to assist a 37ft yacht aground on Gurnard Ledge near Cowes.

The yacht ran aground just before low tide and was listing badly.

The small lifeboat inflatable was launched and deployed their anchor enabling the yacht to be pulled off the rocks when the tide had flooded sufficiently.

The vessel was undamaged and regained deep water later in the evening.