It was a lively Saturday (May 31) for Dart RNLI volunteers as the sailing season gathers pace.

At midday there were reports of an engine room fire on board a 40-foot cruiser off Man Sands.

The B Class Atlantic lifeboat raced to the incident, and discovered the yacht, with four on board, had suffered an overheated engine, was disabled and had become a navigational hazard.

They fixed a line, and the stricken vessel was towed into Dartmouth harbour entrance and handed over to Dart Harbour & Navigation Authority.

The volunteer crew had just set foot back in the station on Coronation Park when a second alert came from HM Coastguard at 2pm.

The volunteers did a U-turn and climbed back on board to head for Blackstone Point, where another 40-foot cruiser had broken down, and was close to rocks.

A line was fixed and the vessel towed back to Dartmouth.