Coastguard attempts to save skipper as yacht is thrown around by waves

This is the dramatic moment a coastguard helicopter rescue team tried to save a skipper in peril as his yacht was thrown around by powerful waves.

The National Coastwatch Institution volunteers spotted the small vessel in trouble close to the shore at Newhaven in East Sussex during a period of strong winds and rough tides on the south coast.

The yacht was being battered by the sea and pushed closer to the harbour wall, with waves crashing over the cockpit and the skipper deemed unreachable by lifeboat and Coastguard Rescue Team.

The team on board Coastguard Helicopter Rescue 163 which is based along the coast at Lydd in Kent therefore went into the air to see if they could save his life.

The mission features in the first episode of a new third series of Channel 5 documentary Coastguard: Search & Rescue SOS which begins at 9pm tomorrow.