THIS is the moment when a stricken yacht was towed into Lowestoft's harbour at the height of a fierce thunderstorm.

The vessel had run into trouble in heavy seas and was taken under tow by Aldeburgh lifeboat, and then by the Lowestoft lifeboat which brought her safely back to the port in difficult conditions.

The rescue last Wednesday evening proved to be the first in a busy week for the Spirit of Lowestoft.

On Saturday afternoon, the volunteer crew launched in gale force winds and driving rain to help a fishing boat with engine problems just south of the Newcombe sand-bank, off Lowestoft.

The lifeboat escorted the fishing vessel as it made its own way back to the town's harbour in the rough seas.

The crew was then paged at 8.26am on Monday to help a broken down boat that was shrimping close to the Claremont Pier.

The lifeboat attached a tow rope, and pulled the boat into deeper water just as it was beaching.

It was then towed back to harbour without further incident.

On Tuesday, Lowestoft Lifeboat was called out at breakfast-time after Yarmouth Coastguard picked up a signal from an automatic distress beacon transmitted in the Ness Point or Lowestoft harbour area.

It was traced to a vessel moored in the harbour and the crew was stood down.