Earlier on Saturday, the Kinghorn RNLI Lifeboat station crew rescued a single yachtsman after he ran aground on rocks – south of Inchkeith Island. The 19’ yacht ran aground on Briggs rocks (a reef to the south of the Island) and began to sink after a hull damage.
The crew of the volunteer lifeboat was alerted after 2.00 pm and arrived on the scene to find the boat aground and being beaten-up against rocks by waves. The skipper of the yacht, a man in his 60s from West Lothian, was taken off the yacht as it was listing in the swell, inducing the gunwales to be deluged.
Mark Brown (Lifeboat helm) said that the sailing yacht was going toward the west side when it hit the rocks south of Inchkeith. The skipper broadcast a mayday after the boat became holed and started taking on water. When they arrived at the scene, the boat was being dumped onto the rock because of the swell. So they took the yacht owner onto the lifeboat and transferred one of their crew onto the yacht to setup a tow.

He added that they were able to tug the boat off the rock, but it was noted to have a list due to the water impressing through the hull. The salvage pump was there on board the casualty vessel to deal with the water as well as this slowed the rise, but there was still around half a meter in the yacht.