Crew from Holbrook Coastguard was last night scrambled to help bring in a stricken solo sailor after his yacht had been rescued in the North Sea.

The lone yachtsman got into difficulties hours after leaving a marina on the river Orwell and was picked up by the Walton RNLI lifeboat.

He was towed to Shotley marina where Coastguard crew safely manoeuvred him through the lock into Shotley marina.

Although tired and a little disheveled the man was found to have no medical problems and he stayed on board his yacht.

Volunteers were paged at around 5.30pm last night to attend the incident and members were on scene and prepared before the RNLI boat appeared in the harbour.

Watch the whole operation on our FaceBook Live coverage here.

In a maritime emergency call the Coastguard on 999.