A sailor became stuck 20ft up a mast on a stranded yacht after breaking her arm.

Lifeboats from Newhaven and Brighton were on routine training when they were called to help the yacht, which was about a mile south-east of Brighton Marina, yesterday morning.

Rescuers shimmied up the mast and helped the terrified woman to safety.

Rob Scott and Phill Corsi, paramedics on the Newhaven boat, administered first aid on deck. The yacht had been unable to power itself into harbour because a rope had become tangled around its propeller.

The injured woman is believed to have been trying to free a sail when she was thrown back against the mast, shattering her upper arm.

The Newhaven boat towed the yacht into Brighton Marina, where an ambulance crew was waiting to take the woman to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton.

A spokesman for the Brighton lifeboat team said: "The rescue was a successful co-ordinated operation between Brighton and Newhaven in choppy seas."