Channel Islands Air Search was also called out to the incident, which was reported to Guernsey Coastguard just after 11am.
Neither the sailor nor the cat were injured.
After receiving a faint and broken mayday distress call from the vessel – known as ‘Dasher’ – Guernsey Coastguard established communication with the sailor, albeit an extremely poor one.
The sailor reported through the broken transmission that all navigation equipment on board had failed, leaving him tired and disoriented in the poor weather and low visibility.
He believed he was between five and six nautical miles north of Guernsey at the time his navigation system failed.
It is understood he had set sail from Falmouth on the Cornish coast.
After the sailor’s personal locator beacon (PLB) was received about eight nautical miles west-southwest of Casquets Lighthouse, the lifeboat and air search teams headed there.
Upon arrival, the lifeboat detected a radar target approximately two nautical miles north of the PLB coordinates, which was visually confirmed as Dasher by the CIAS aircraft.
Lifeboat personnel arrived alongside Dasher at about 1pm, and began to tow the stricken vessel towards St Peter Port.
However, almost two hours into the journey the lifeboat crew alerted the coastguard that Dasher appeared to be taking on water under tow.
Crew and a salvage pump were transferred to the vessel, and the tow resumed, arriving safely into St Peter Port at about 4.30pm.
Dasher was handed over to marina staff, while the sailor and his cat were provided with overnight accommodation in the harbour by the owners of the yacht ‘Jappeloup’.
Mission co-ordinator Mike Harris said the incident was an example of a ‘successful’ search and rescue operation carried out in ‘challenging’ conditions.
He said it highlighted the importance of carrying emergency position-indicating radio beacons (EPIRB) or personal locator beacons
‘Although the initial signal was delayed, having a registered and functioning PLB significantly shortened the time it took to locate the vessel,’ he said.
‘We also remind all mariners to ensure their EPIRBs or PLBs are properly registered and maintained.’
He thanked lifeboat and air search crews for their ‘swift and professional’ response.
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