A big adventure yesterday as Topaz Rival responded to a Coastguard call to come to the rescue of a 31 ft sailing boat anchored in Lulworth Cove. The boat had a broken gearbox and could not move forwards or in reverse. Their anchor was also starting to drag. They were asking for a tow to Portland Marina for repairs. We were just approaching Weymouth and were about six miles from Lulworth. No other boats answered the call so we diverted to the cove. The plan formulated en route was to pull them alongside out of the narrow entrance to Lulworth and then astern on two bridles until near Portland where we would reverse the process to put them on the pontoon. Amazingly all went smoothly and we were lucky that the previous owner of Topaz Rival had left a long line perfect for the tow with a spliced loop in one end to which we attached our anchor bridle and a spliced plastic eye in the other for the rescue boat to thread its bridle. First time I have ever towed another boat but Matt and I agreed it was a good way to spend the afternoon (very little wind and a calm sea). Afterwards a rewarding drink in Weymouth courtesy of Galatea's owners who also made a small donation to the RNLI. Great fun!