US yachtsman Ivan Rusch has been assisted into port FIVE times in two weeks while on passage down Channel, the Press Association report.

Rusch, 78, was accused of being a maritime risk to himself and others by Brixham Coastguards who coordinated the latest incident involving his 35ft sloop Ornaerie off the south Devon coast.

Coastgaurd Robert Fielder said the yachtsman was ‘incapable of planning his passage with regard to weather, tides and coastal navigation and conditions.’

Rusch has required assistance from coastguards at Eastbourne, Portsmouth, Poole, Brixham and Salcombe where, while off Start Point, he had become ‘tired and disorientated’.