THIS is the moment a university student who stole his mother's £10,000 yacht was finally rescued and towed back to shore by lifeboat crews.
Oliver Sloley and a friend, who appeared to have no navigational experience and were not wearing life jackets, took the 30ft vessel from its moorings at Restronguet.
After getting into difficulty near Newlyn, they called for help but were unable to give a correct position to the volunteer Penlee lifeboat crews who launched to rescue them.
The lifeboat, with seven crew on board, searched for an hour and a half before the yacht's flare was spotted by the Scillonian III ferry five miles from its reported position.
The damaged boat was towed back into Newlyn harbour.
Sloley, 22, of Nanceddon Farm, Ludgvan, was jailed for nine months at Truro Crown Court this week after admitting taking the yacht without consent in August last year, and a string of other offences.
Philip Lee, prosecuting, told the court that when Sloley's mother went to the yacht she found it was severely damaged and in such an appalling state she could not afford the repairs and had to sell it.
"The last thing Mrs Sloley wanted to do was to see her son prosecuted but, as a sensible mother, she felt it right to make a complaint," Mr Lee said.
Following the rescue, Penlee lifeboat coxswain Patch Harvey said the damaged boat was moored next to another yacht in Newlyn harbour.
The next day, he said, the owners of the neighbouring yacht discovered that their outboard motor was missing and the police were contacted.
Following a search of Sloley's boat, the stolen outboard was found, Mr Harvey told The Cornishman.
Sloley admitted in court receiving two stolen outboards and two fuel tanks found on board the yacht, and a further offence of stealing two cheques from his mother.
He also admitted making off without payment for food and drink from four pubs in west Cornwall – the Cutty Sark bar, where he had once been employed in Marazion, the Station House pub in Long Rock, the King's Arms in Marazion and the Lion and Lamb in Ashton.
Mr Lee revealed that, following these offences, Sloley had been jailed for three years and four months at Plymouth Crown Court for possession of 250 grams of heroin with intent to supply.
Joss Ticehurst, for the defence, said that the summer had been the most terrible period in Sloley's life. "He was at university but now is sitting in prison, having wasted his future to a very great extent."
Sentencing him, Judge Christopher Elwen said: "For some reason best known to yourself you decided to wreck your life, and possibly your prospects for the future.
"The most serious thing you did was to take your mother's boat to sea without her permission and, as a result of your inexperience, the Penlee lifeboat had to be launched and you had to be rescued."
The judge imposed jail sentences totalling nine months to be served concurrently with his present sentence.
article copyright THE CORNISHMAN