Men on pasty trip rescued from sinking boat
The pasties were lost to a watery grave
At a glance
A pasty mission became a rescue mission after a boat took on water and began sinking
Two men had sailed from Swansea to Ilfracombe in Devon to buy pasties
The sailors have often made the journey for pasties, and will not let this experience put them of doing so again, they said
The Ilfracombe rescue team managed to save the men but the pasties were lost to the sea
- Published
Two men were rescued from a sinking boat after they sailed from Swansea to Ilfracombe, Devon, to buy some pasties.
The men had been on a day trip to the town in a 32ft (9.7m) cruiser when they were hit by a large wave on their return journey.
Ilfracombe RNLI launched both of its lifeboats to assist with the rescue after receiving reports of a cruiser taking in water.
The trip came about because pasties in Swansea do not compare to Devon's, said the Paul Hadfield, the ship's owner.
The men were rescued and bits of the boat were retrieved
"You can't get anything like them in Swansea," he said.
"We'd been in Ilfracombe for the day and I'd got nine pasties for colleagues back home."
Mr Hadfield is a very experienced sailor with a career of more than 50 years on boats, according to the RNLI.
He said he has regularly sailed the journey of around 30 miles (48 km) from his home to Ilfracombe in search of pasties.
But this time the journey went wrong.
When a wave hit The Gazelle at Baggy Point the situation escalated quickly, according to Mr Hadfield.
"There was pretty sick swell so I think that is what did it - the wave popped out the saloon window and rushed in," he said.
"And the volume of water already on the foredeck from the swell also swamped us - and suddenly we had water up to our knees in the saloon."
Mr Hadfield made the decision to call HM Coastguard, and said he could see the nine pasties were "already floating" in the water.
The lifeboat crews tried to tow the boat but The Gazelle quickly started sinking.
Coxswain of the lifeboat that day, Stuart Carpenter, said: "As we found out, The Gazelle had only minutes before sinking - if her crew had not been so cautious and called the Coastguard when they did, they could have been in the water with their boat."
While Mr Hadfield said the sinking was a day he would "never forget", he has not been put off making more trips in future.
He plans to return to Ilfracombe for more pasties soon, he said.