Dawnfresh trio save yacht crew
THREE fish farmers were hailed heroes this week after rescuing the crew of a yacht in trouble on Loch Etive.
Andrew Kyle, Andy Moore and Iain Bruce, who work at a Dawnfresh trout farm, rushed to the rescue of the capsized boat, pulling the two crewmen from the stricken vessel and bringing them safely to shore.
The drama began on the afternoon of Friday September 9 when the three men were made aware of a capsized yacht in the Airds Bay area of Loch Etive.
Within moments, the three men had leaped into their boat and were tearing to the rescue.
The two men were pulled from the water, cold and tired but thankfully unhurt, and met on the shore by the Coastguard who offered medical attention while they warmed up. The yacht was then safely lifted out of the loch by a Dawnfresh support vessel.
Andrew Kyle, one of the men involved in the rescue, said: ‘The two guys obviously got in to some trouble and their yacht had begun to overturn, leaving them no choice but to go into the water. We were fortunate we were able to get out to them quickly.
‘We always keep an eye on the loch during our work on the farm and monitor radio channels so we can help anyone in trouble. Working here, we consider ourselves to be a real part of the community. Anyone who works on or near the water knows how quickly it can become dangerous, even for an experienced crew, so it is important we all try to help each other.’
Stewart Hawthorn, farm director at Dawnfresh, added: ‘ We are incredibly proud that our crew at Loch Etive were able to help these men in trouble near one of our sites.
‘The men reacted quickly and effectively and we are delighted they were unhurt.
‘The kind of professionalism the team showed, both to recover the men and, subsequently, the boat itself, is the kind of standards we want to bring to all of our work. Hopefully, however, nothing quite so eventful will happen again in the future.’