TWO sailors had to be assisted after their yacht was grounded by the falling tide when they dropped anchor in thick fog this morning (Sunday, May 8).

Volunteers from Hartlepool RNLI were called out to aid the stricken 23-foot yacht on Middleton beach at around 8.40am.

The inshore crew was launched while other crew members in dry suits attended on foot.

The yacht, with two people on board, had just left Hartlepool Marina for a day trip and seeing the thick fog, which was down to 20 meters visibility, decided to drop anchor and wait till the fog burned off.

However, the rapidly falling tide meant that the water level was too low and the boat ran aground and the stricken yacht could not be towed from the beach despite the best efforts of Hartlepool RNLI volunteer crew members.

Hartlepool RNLI Helmsman, Mark Barker, said: "There wasn’t enough water for us to get close so the yacht will remain on the beach until the next high tide when it will be refloated and will return to Hartlepool Marina."

Mike Craddy, Hartlepool RNLI operations manager, added: "The skipper did the right thing in deciding to wait until the fog had cleared but was unfortunate to run aground on a falling tide."