after he and three fellow crew members were plucked from the sea after their fishing boat sank off the Eastern Seaboard.

The sinking was the most serious incident during a busy Cup Match on the seas in which several vessels suffered mechanical problems and had to be rescued.

"By all accounts it has been an extremely busy Cup Match,'' a Harbour Radio spokesman said.

On Thursday afternoon, the East End station was informed that a 55-foot sport fisherman had gone down some 50 nautical miles off Cape Hatteras in North Carolina.

No Excuses left Bermuda on Wednesday afternoon with four people on board -- including 30-year-old Sandys Parish resident and fisherman Robert Lambe.

A spokesman for the station said all four men had been picked up by a passing American tug and were due to arrive in St. Croix on August 4.

Mr. Lambe's brother Andre Lambe told The Royal Gazette yesterday that he had spoken to his brother who was doing well.

"Everybody's fine, although they lost the boat. They must have struck a floating board or a barrel,'' he said.

"The boat sunk really fast and they were in a lifeboat for a few hours before the ship came by to pick them up.'' Mr. Lambe said the boat belonged to an American who came down to the Island with a few other men every summer to fish.

His brother regularly made the trip back to the US with the group to help out as an extra driver.

Harbour Radio also received a call on Wednesday afternoon from the tour boat Sundeck Too which had three people on board who needed to be evacuated.

The trio had received Portuguese Man O'War stings and needed medical attention.

Other reports came from about half a dozen vessels which needed to be towed ashore after suffering mechanical difficulties.

The Police launch Blue Heron assisted some of these including the sailing vessel Spellbound which was heading to the Island from the US when its engine broke down, while others were aided by passing pleasure craft.

One of these included a rental paddleboat from Marriott's Castle Harbour Resort which was spotted drifting toward Castle Roads on Friday afternoon with two people on board and had to be towed ashore.

And the decompression chamber at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital broke down on Thursday night but was up and running again yesterday morning.

SAILING SLG