A sail training ship alerted coastguards to a yacht adrift in choppy seas off St Govan’s Head on Wednesday.

The 24 foot yacht, Supersonic, had broken her moorings at Dale and drifted 14 miles round the headland. She was spotted by the training vessel Stavros S Niarchos at 1.21pm.

They immediately called the Coastguard who requested the launch of Tenby’s all weather lifeboat. The Tamar launched into very rough seas and quickly covered the 12 miles between the station and casualty vessel.

Once on scene, a lifeboat crew member was put aboard to assess the state of the vessel and to ascertain whether the crew had gone overboard in the heavy swell.

It soon became evident from stowed sails and the still attached mooring buoy that the vessel was not crewed and had just come adrift.

The yacht was then towed back to Tenby while coastguards traced her owners.