This British couple saved six guests on a Spanish sailboat from being crushed against rocks when the Spanish rescue vessel tried but failed and gave up on the hapless victims.

Digital Marketing Consultant Felicity Hanson (30) and Accountant Joe Hanson (32) from Manchester, UK were able to free the 38-foot sailboat that had been dangerously blown onto and stuck against the jagged rocks in the Mediterranean ocean and have gained over 384,000 views on their video of the incident.

When Felicity and Joe woke up around 8:30-in-the-morning in Es Grau, Menorca, while on their 40-foot-long Gibsea 402 sailboat, where they live aboard full-time, they noticed that a boat behind them looked as if it had been dragged over to the rocks overnight.

Overnight, there was an easterly swell that threw around all the boats in their anchorage, but this boat seemed to be stuck against the rocks in Es Grau, near the Mahon Marina in Menorca.

Felicity and Joe had watched for a couple of minutes before they noticed RIBS, short for Rigid Inflatable Boat which are lightweight, high-performance powerboats, that were buzzing around it and then the Spanish rescue boat came into the scene.

The owner of the boat in peril was not on the boat himself, as he had chartered the boat for 24 hours, meaning that there were only paying guests on board.

The professional rescue team tried for over 30-minutes to tug the boat off the rocks with an inch-thick tow line pulling full-throttle away from the rocks in a bid to part the boat and the rocks, but to no avail and in fact further damaging the boat, the force of having pulled against the keel while it was wedged in causing serious structural damage to the hull and damage to the rudder which is the steering mechanism.

Watching on, Joe had gone over to offer some advice, offering the halyard, which is a rope used for raising or lowering the sail and could have been used to pull the sailboat, but was turned down by one of the people on the RIBS.

Felicity and Joe later found that the owner of the boat had returned and they were trying to pull the boat over as effectively as possible with one rib.

Once Felicity and Joe were back, they began helping the owner by grabbing the main halyard and pulling sideways with their boat while the owner pulled backwards with his while a nearby helpful catamaran owner helped by holding the line.

Once they had worked out the situation, it took around two attempts of around one minute each for the boat to be freed from the grasp of the rocks.

Felicity and Joe filmed the scene and uploaded it to their Instagram account, @at_the_hansons.

The owner was so grateful to Felicity and Joe for being able to finally get the boat removed insisting, if they hadn’t in time, the waves would have crushed the boat against the rocks where it would have slowly started to dismantle, and could have caused damage to the guest on board.

While the guests had been safely taken to shore, the environmental impact could have been disastrous with oil and diesel potentially being spilt into the ocean.

“We woke up in the morning and spotted it looking like it was right against the rocks,” Felicity said.

“We watched for a minute or two as lots of ribs buzzed around it, then saw the big rescue coming in. The rescue boat tried for maybe 30 minutes and then gave up.

“Then he went back later when the owner had arrived and was trying with one rib to pull the boat over not very effectively.

“We started by grabbing the main halyard and pulling the boat sideways with our boat, then the owner pulled backwards with another boat.

“The strength needed to pull the boat sideways was more than our little six-HP could do. A nearby catamaran came to help with their ten-HP dinghy, they held the line, and Joe towed them too so we had 16-HP of force which still wasn't enough.”

Felicity and Joe later learned that the charter guests hadn’t followed the directions from the owner by not putting enough chain out into the ocean, which therefore meant the anchor didn’t hold so they were dragged over to the rocks where they remained stuck until morning.

“The boat was stuck on some rocks in Es Grau, there was an easterly swell coming through throwing all the boats around a little and a northerly breeze,” she said.

“However, from our understanding since, the charter guests hadn't put enough chain out and the anchor didn't hold even though the wind wasn't too strong.

“So they dragged and the swell dumped them on top of a big rock and against the cliff.

“The boat was miraculously water tight, but that doesn't mean they were unharmed as the rudder had been slammed on the rocks so much that they totally lost their steering, they had some hull damage on the bow and the pea bracket that holds their prop shaft and prop in position was also very damaged.

“They are now in a boatyard being fixed up.”

The rescue team in the end caused more damage than necessary according to Felicity and Joe as they were only pulling with force to try and free the boat, without thinking of how it would affect the physical boat.

“The professionals were more of a hindrance than a help,” she said.

“I know it's not their job to rescue boats, they save lives as the priority, but we think they did more damage by trying to help this boat.

“They pulled the boat with a HUGE tow line, probably an inch thick or more, and full throttle tugged it sternwards to try and get it off the rock.

“That actually didn't budge the boat but did snap the towline (which takes tremendous force).

“The rescue boat tried pulling from the stern with a tow line in reverse which didn't work, then they turned their boat around and tried pulling in forwards (more power) which also didn't work.”

As part of the sailing community, Felicity and Joe knew how devastating it would be for the owner if his boat was completely ruined either by leaving the boat to be crushed against the rocks, or by breaking it apart by ruthless professionals.

“It was great to have been able to help the owner, and we were so pleased that the boat didn't have to become a salvage operation,” she said.

“If we hadn't got it off the rocks the boat would have had to have been slowly dismantled, removing it part by part which is just so sad, and a blot on a beautiful area of coastline.

“They were so grateful for the help and that the boat was able to be rescued, a friend of his reached out over instagram with updates on how the boat was doing etc and thanked us for filming the process which was really helpful for their insurance too.

“We love the community aspect of it, the professionals couldn't help but we as a cruising community knew how devastating that would be for the owner and wanted to do everything that we could to help them.”

THIS BRITISH couple saved six guests on a Spanish sailboat from being crushed against rocks when the Spanish rescue vessel tried but failed and gave up on the hapless victims.

Digital Marketing Consultant Felicity Hanson (30) and Accountant Joe Hanson (32) from Manchester, UK were able to free the 38-foot sailboat that had been dangerously blown onto and stuck against the jagged rocks in the mediterranean ocean and have gained over 384K views on their video of the incident.

When Felicity and Joe woke up around 8:30-in-the-morning in Es Grau, Menorca while on their 40-foot-long Gibsea 402 sailboat, where they live aboard full-time, they noticed that a boat behind them looked as if it had been dragged over to the rocks overnight.

Overnight, there was an easterly swell that threw around all the boats in their anchorage, but this boat seemed to be stuck against the rocks in Es Grau, near the Mahon Marina in Menorca.

Felicity and Joe had watched for a couple of minutes before they noticed RIBS, short for Rigid Inflatable Boat which are lightweight, high-performance powerboats, that were buzzing around it and then the Spanish rescue boat came into the scene.


The owner of the boat in peril was not on the boat himself, as he had chartered the boat for 24 hours, meaning that there were only paying guests on board.

The professional rescue team tried for over 30-minutes to tug the boat off the rocks with an inch-thich tow line pulling full-throttle away from the rocks in a bid to part the boat and the rocks, but to no avail and in fact further damaging the boat, the force of having pulled against the keel while it was wedged in causing serious structural damage to the hull and damage to the rudder which is the steering mechanism.

Watching on, Joe had gone over to offer some advice, offering the halyard, which is a rope used for raising or lowering the sail and could have been used to pull the sailboat, but was turned down by one of the people on the RIBS.

Felicity and Joe later found that the owner of the boat had returned and they were trying to pull the boat over as effectively as possible with one rib.

Once Felicity and Joe were back, they began helping the owner by grabbing the main halyard and pulling sideways with their boat while the owner pulled backwards with his while a nearby helpful catamaran owner helped by holding the line.

Once they had worked out the situation, it took around two attempts of around one-minute each for the boat to be freed from the grasp of the rocks.

Felicity and Joe had filmed the scene and uploaded it to their Instagram account, @at_the_hansons where it has gained over 384K views.

The owner was so grateful to Felicity and Joe for being able to finally get the boat removed insisting, if they hadn’t in time, the waves would have crushed the boat against the rocks where it would have slowly started to dismantle, and could have caused damage to the guest on board.

While the guests had been safely taken to shore, the environmental impact could have been disastrous with oil and diesel potentially being spilt into the ocean.

“We woke up in the morning and spotted it looking like it was right against the rocks,” Felicity said.

“We watched for a minute or two as lots of ribs buzzed around it, then saw the big rescue coming in. The rescue boat tried for maybe 30 minutes and then gave up.

“Then he went back later when the owner had arrived and was trying with one rib to pull the boat over not very effectively.

“We started by grabbing the main halyard and pulling the boat sideways with our boat, then the owner pulled backwards with another boat.

“The strength needed to pull the boat sideways was more than our little six-HP could do. A nearby catamaran came to help with their ten-HP dinghy, they held the line, and Joe towed them too so we had 16-HP of force which still wasn't enough.”

Felicity and Joe later learned that the charter guests hadn’t followed the directions from the owner by not putting enough chain out into the ocean, which therefore meant the anchor didn’t hold so they were dragged over to the rocks where they remained stuck until morning.

“The boat was stuck on some rocks in Es Grau, there was an easterly swell coming through throwing all the boats around a little and a northerly breeze,” she said.

“However, from our understanding since, the charter guests hadn't put enough chain out and the anchor didn't hold even though the wind wasn't too strong.

“So they dragged and the swell dumped them on top of a big rock and against the cliff.

“The boat was miraculously water tight, but that doesn't mean they were unharmed as the rudder had been slammed on the rocks so much that they totally lost their steering, they had some hull damage on the bow and the pea bracket that holds their prop shaft and prop in position was also very damaged.

“They are now in a boatyard being fixed up.”

The rescue team in the end caused more damage than necessary according to Felicity and Joe as they were only pulling with force to try and free the boat, without thinking of how it would affect the physical boat.

“The professionals were more of a hindrance than a help,” she said.

“I know it's not their job to rescue boats, they save lives as the priority, but we think they did more damage by trying to help this boat.

“They pulled the boat with a HUGE tow line, probably an inch thick or more, and full throttle tugged it sternwards to try and get it off the rock.

“That actually didn't budge the boat but did snap the towline (which takes tremendous force).

“The rescue boat tried pulling from the stern with a tow line in reverse which didn't work, then they turned their boat around and tried pulling in forwards (more power) which also didn't work.”

As part of the sailing community, Felicity and Joe knew how devastating it would be for the owner if his boat was completely ruined either by leaving the boat to be crushed against the rocks, or by breaking it apart by ruthless professionals.

“It was great to have been able to help the owner, and we were so pleased that the boat didn't have to become a salvage operation,” she said.

“If we hadn't got it off the rocks the boat would have had to have been slowly dismantled, removing it part by part which is just so sad, and a blot on a beautiful area of coastline.

“They were so grateful for the help and that the boat was able to be rescued, a friend of his reached out over instagram with updates on how the boat was doing etc and thanked us for filming the process which was really helpful for their insurance too.

“We love the community aspect of it, the professionals couldn't help but we as a cruising community knew how devastating that would be for the owner and wanted to do everything that we could to help them.”