[imagesource: TimesLIVE]

A Princess 45 power yacht, one of the world’s top power yacht models, was sold by yacht importers Boating World SA to new owners only last week.

Days later, the yacht crashed into Robben Island.

In defence of whoever was sailing the boat, it was particularly foggy last night (Tuesday night), so they must not have seen the island approaching before it was too late.

The 45ft (13,7m) boat was definitely sold with a valid seaworthy certificate, confirms Boating World owner Derrick Levy via TimesLIVE.

So, everything was in order when the boat set sail from Granger Bay yesterday afternoon, only to have a rescue crew come and save the three men aboard when they ran aground in thick fog east of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Image: Supplied via TimesLIVE

The rescue operation took around five hours, from 8PM when the alert came in, until 1AM this morning.

The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) confirmed that three men had been rescued from the vessel:

“On arrival at the scene, in calm seas and dense fog, the vessel was found to be hard aground and listing,” said NSRI spokesperson Craig Lambinon.

“A rescue swimmer was deployed to swim and wade to the vessel. In relays of one at a time, the three crew were assisted to shore by the NSRI rescue swimmer and were assisted by department of forestry, fisheries and the environment officers on the land side.”

Lambinon added that officials tried to salvage the boat this morning:

“Efforts to pull the yacht off the rocks were investigated, but in the low tide the effort was abandoned and an anchor was deployed to attempt to hold the yacht away from the shore at high tide due in the early hours of the morning.”

You can read the NSRI’s full statement here.

All in all, not a great look:

Image: Supplied via TimesLIVE

A yacht is a terribly expensive toy to own, so hopefully, for the owner’s (or owners’) sake, there’s a comprehensive insurance plan already in place.

[source:timeslive]