AN AIR and sea search involving the RAF helicopter based at Wattisham was under way today for a sailing boat missing off the Essex coast.The search began after the middle-aged sailor failed to call his mum.

AN AIR and sea search involving the RAF helicopter based at Wattisham was under way today for a sailing boat missing off the Essex coast.

The search began after the middle-aged sailor failed to call his mum.

The boat went missing on Saturday night off the coast near West Mersea.

The Search and Rescue unit based at Wattisham Airfield was scrambled to the scene at 7.45am today.

By 9.45am they were back having found no trace of the yacht.

A spokesman for the rescue crew said: "We were out searching for a 51-year-old man who had been out on his yacht but didn't call his mother as he was supposed to. We didn't find anything."

A spokesman for Thames Coastguard said: "We are searching for an overdue yacht."

Clacton and Bradwell lifeboats were also searching at the scene.