A LIFEBOATMAN, who put his own life on the line to rescue a lone sailor stranded in a terrible storm, is to receive national recognition for his bravery.

Helmsman Stephen Iredale has been chosen for the Walter and Elizabeth Groombridge Award for the outstanding inshore lifeboat rescue of last year.

He was part of the Staithes and Runswick lifeboat crew which saved the life of 70-year-old Donald Dean, whose trimaran, the SIS, was swamped by rain-lashed seas off the North Yorkshire coast on stormy night last September.

The crew launched their Atlantic 21 rigid inflatable lifeboat because the neighbouring Whitby all-weather craft was not able to get close enough to the yacht in the rough seas.

The trimaran design of the SIS meant getting alongside the yacht, and away again, was a highly dangerous move, and the breaking seas were so deep during the rescue that the rescuers' lifejackets twice inflated automatically.

They also faced a further hazardous operation in trying to transfer Mr Dean into the Whitby lifeboat.

In his official report, Andy Hurley, deputy divisional inspector of lifeboats for the north, said: "This service was carried out at the very limit of the operational capability of the Atlantic 21 lifeboat.

"Helmsman Stephen Iredale and his crew performed very well as a team and carried out a rescue in a very difficult location in breaking seas."

The Walter and Elizabeth Groombridge Award was established by the RNLI in 1989, in honour of Mr Groombridge, who was station administration officer at Brighton from 1970 to 1980 and acted as the charity's honorary secretary.

Mr Iredale was also awarded the RNLI bronze medal for bravery for the same rescue in May this year.