A COUPLE today told of a nightmare journey at sea which ended with them being rescued from the treacherous waters of the Portland Race.

They praised Weymouth Lifeboat crew who came to their rescue within minutes on Wednesday night and said without them their celebratory sail could have ended in tragedy.

Mike and Hazel Bartlett bought a yacht last year and went to sea to celebrate Mr Bartlett’s retirement.

But the celebration nearly turned to disaster as unbeknown to the couple, a lump of weed became tangled around the propeller of their yacht Belladean, stopping it from making any headway against the strong tides off Portland.

The Portland Race, a fast-moving tidal area caused by the meeting of the tides between Portland Bill and the Shambles sandbank, has snared a number of mariners this year.

The Bartletts, from Seaton in Devon, had been sailing Belladean in convoy with their friends’ boat Hui Mar.

They were on the way to Portsmouth to see their son and were heading for Portland to spend the night when they ran into trouble and lost power.

Experienced mariner Mr Bartlett, 64, who has just retired as a civilian worker from Devon and Cornwall Police, said: “We were following our friends and all of a sudden we lost power.

“We weren’t getting anywhere and the tide was taking us in, so I tried tacking to the east. I tried for two hours to get into the harbour and I thought ‘this is ridiculous, we’re not making any headway.’”

Their ordeal worsened when Mr Bartlett started to suffer with cramp in his leg and hand and Mrs Bartlett, who had been struck down with sea-sickness several hours earlier, was very sick and unable to move from the cabin.

Mr Bartlett said: “My hand had gone white and was cramping up like a claw. I couldn’t get in touch with Hui Mar and it was getting dark. We needed a tow.”

Mrs Bartlett, 61, said that she had been feeling ‘terrible’ and had been ‘very frightened.’ She said: “I was scared, I said my prayers more than once. A couple of times I started to nod off, I was so tired and worried and felt so ill.

“Saying thank you to the lifeboat and coastguards isn’t enough.”

Portland Coastguard received the distress call from Belladean just before 8.30pm and tasked Weymouth RNLI all-weather lifeboat. The crew were with the boat in 18 minutes from launching. Two crew members boarded and fixed a tow rope.

Mr Bartlett said: “They were absolutely brilliant, so kind and professional and so calm.”

Mrs Bartlett added: “One man came down to check on me in the cabin and he was reassuring me and told me what was happening and said it would be better soon.”

Belladean was towed into Portland Marina at around 10.30pm.

When Mr Bartlett inspected the boat yesterday he found the lump of weed that had fouled the propeller and cut the power.

The Bartletts were expected to continue their journey today.