THE skipper of a stricken yacht named Don't Panic has been rescued after issuing an SOS to a lifeboat crew with his mobile phone.

In a 999 call for the Coastguard at 1am today, the sailor said he thought he was a quarter of a mile off the North Yorkshire coast and the boat’s engine had a mechanical failure.

Dave Barry, of Scarborough RNLI, said had the skipper not got a phone signal his vessel could have been blown him into the shipping lane on Monday night, putting him in grave danger.

He said Don't Panic had no safety equipment, such as lights, a VHF radio, GPS or flares.

Lifeboat crews found the yacht by radar, a mile and a half east of the harbour, and homed in on it with the help of the light on the skipper’s phone. The yacht was towed back to Scarborough.

John Senior, lifeboat operations manager, said: “It is imperative that any leisure craft putting out to sea should have a fully functional VHF marine radio and flares as a bare minimum.

“There is no legal requirement for leisure craft, but we would strongly advise that such vessels always have a means of sending out a distress call other than a mobile phone, which should be used only as a back-up.

“We also recommend that if you are going at night or dusk, you have lights and have informed someone ashore of your intentions.”