Idiot proof

I was recently asked whether I ever dropped my camera. Well, the truth is yes, I've dropped it many times. However, thankfully the camera I use on the boat most of time is one of these, a Pentax Optio W20.

Now reviews have not always been kind about this camera, however, when you are using it in harsh conditions and want something you don't have to take much care of then this is the camera for you. Indeed, it is so good that the RNLI provides one to every lifeboat in the fleet. A good recommendation!

I'm sure someone will correct me on this but to my knowledge we've never broken one either (which is pretty much a first)!

In the words of.......

Bruce Lack, watch manager at Portland Coastguard: "Drink and stupidity played major parts in this incident with two young people in serious danger of losing their lives."

At about 3.30 on Sunday morning the crew were paged by Portland Coastguard and tasked to search for two young people who were thought to be in the water somewhere near Studland. In an apparently intoxicated state they had 'borrowed' a dinghy and taken to the sea with no means or propulsion or communication. People ashore could hear their cries but weren't sure exactly where they were.

Both boats launched rapidly and searched the area thoroughly. The ALB heard shouts and found the two casualties clinging to No.6 channel buoy. Their dinghy had overturned and they had been in the water for several hours. The ALB recovered them and then requested that an ambulance meet them at the Studland Ferry slipway on Sandbanks. While transporting the casualties to Sandbanks their condition deteriorated to the point where one of the casualties was losing consciousness. The two casualties were passed onto the ambulance and taken to Poole hospital where they were given the all clear and subsequently discharged into Police custody. They were later bailed.

I guess the moral of the story is................well, what do you think?

Out of the blue..........

came three shouts in one evening:

At about 7 o'clock we were paged by Portland to launch both boats to search for a young person who was missing on the cliffs near Anvil Point lighthouse. The Police and Coastguard were concerned that she was going to harm herself. Martin was otherwise engaged with his Grandson 'Jack' so Dave took the boat as Cox. Now these kind of searches generally come to nothing, however, we had a spate of them a year ago which all had fairly grisly conclusions so they are certainly not something we take lightly. Consequently I think most of us onboard were praying that we would have a futile half hours search then 'Rome Tango Bravo' (return to base) having found the 'victim' safe and sound. And that's how it worked out, the coastguards picked the young person up and calmed the situation. Phew!

In the course of the service the ILB completed two rapid inshore searches.

The ALB crew were extra vigilant and searching every crack and crevice.

Skid of course managed to attract every bit of spray which came over the bow.

Meanwhile Jo just looked plain scary for some reason?!

The next shout came sometime later at about 8.30pm (most of us had just got home). This time it was to a RIB which had suffered engine failure near Kimmeridge. Now this is a fairly quiet patch of coastline so naturally the Coastguard wanted them retrieved before nightfall. The ALB proceeded at best speed and once on scene towed the boat a short distance into the slipway in Kimmeridge.

And then..........just as the boat was finished being re-fueled, washed and put away for the night the pagers went off again at about 11.20pm! This time it was a local boat known to us who was having engine trouble. Luckily, just we were assembling another local boat (I think it was Tom) arrived and towed him home so we were stood down.

And so to bed......

Role reversal

Martin is our Cox. He steers our ship and guides our crew. It turns out this runs in the family. Not only was his father-in-law the Cox of Swanage Lifeboat. But his wife, Karina, is the very capable Cox of his Gig Crew (Swanage Sea Rowing Club - Super Veterans).

Lost in translation

In good old Bank Holiday fashion we were paged just before lunch today. The casualty was a French yacht at anchor in Swanage bay who had put out a Pan-Pan call. Unfortunately, though the Coastguard could talk to them, there was a problem with interpretation so no one was quite sure what the problem was! We decided to send the ILB and they were soon alongside and attending to what turned out to be a mechanical problem not really warranting a Pan-Pan.

The family and I had been just about to go on a trip out on the bikes so we cycled down to the boathouse instead. It is Eve's turn to have Brandy the bear to stay for the weekend so he got to join in our adventures!

The ILB was soon away with Steve, Gav and John Deas onboard.

Not the furthest shout we've ever conducted.......

Meanwhile back at the boathouse there was bit of a carnival feel in the air, lots of chatting, laughing and smiling.

TDI

Thanks to Dave Corben for this smashing photo of our launch yesterday. Those of you with sharp eyesight will notice that the slender fella on the starboard quarter is wearing a drysuit rather than the normal ALB foulweather gear. In fact it's not one of our crew but is Tom Mansell, one of our divisional inspection staff. It is normal that when the inspecting staff are on the station they accompany the crew on any shouts that occur. This allows them to get a more realistic insight into how we operate as a crew than by merely coming on exercise with us. Incidentally since Howard's promotion into the 'ivory tower' Tom has been promoted into Howie's old job (at least I think it was a promotion). Well done Sir!

Last April shout?

Over lunch time the ALB was launched in a hurry to attend a Motor yacht in trouble at Durlston head. As it happens I was here umpiring a cricket match so don't know the inside story. Here's the details from our website:

Crew: M. Steeden (Coxn), D. Turnbull, P. Elleray, G. Steeden, D. Lander, O. Clark, T. Mansell (TDI South)

Details: At 13:18 Portland Coastguard paged for an immediate launch of Swanage's All Weather Lifeboat. They had received a '999' call from the crew of a motorboat that had broken down near Durlston Head and was being blown towards the rocks. Nine minutes later the Lifeboat launched and headed for the casualty at full speed. As luck would have it an RNLI Training boat was in the area and they were standing by the casualty at the Southern end of Durlston Bay. Once on scene 2 Lifeboat crew were put aboard the stricken motorboat as one of their crew was suffering from seasickness and a tow needed to be rigged. With a towline connected the casualty was taken to the Lifeboat mooring in Swanage Bay. Once secured to the mooring Dave Turnbull, the Lifeboat's mechanic, had a look at the vessel's engines. They had both stopped at virtually the same time and the problem seemed to be dirty fuel. The system was bled and both engines started but after a short test run one stopped again and it was decided to leave the boat on the mooring until the fuel system could be properly cleaned. The 4 crew were then taken ashore aboard the Lifeboat.

Skill fade

There is no doubt that over time skills fade with lack of use. The RNLI invests a lot of time and money training it's crews in order to provide them with the skills needed to deal with the incidents they attend. It's not surprising then that they also wish to analyse how effective any new course or training method is. With this in mind, during our exercise last night we had a fairly comprehensive and realistic medical incident to deal with.

Our second Coxswain Robert had brought a Severn class lifeboat from Poole containing the full 1st aid training team from Poole, Howard Ramm and three casualties. In the course of our exercise we were tasked to attend this 'casualty' which had experienced an explosion onboard. The ILB got there first and tied up alongside allowing one person to attend each casualty.

Gavin was dealing with a fellow who was unconscious, had no airway and an immediate life threatening bleed. In pretty short order he temporarily stemmed the flow with a fist in the groin, applied a CAT (Combat Application Tourniquet) and then established an airway whereupon the casualty began breathing. As soon as the ALB crew arrived he had enough hands to administer Oxygen and begin immobilising an open fracture to the lower leg.

Meanwhile Chad had begun his assessment of the second casualty. She had rapid and shallow breathing and was propped in a tripod position so was quickly assessed as 'Big Sick' despite having no injuries (she was complaining of chest pain). Chad moved her to a more comfortable position, made a great job of reassuring her then continued with his assessment. It turned out she was under investigation by her GP for a heart condition. Chad got out his check cards and correctly applied GTN and a dose of Aspirin.

The extra hands who had arrived onboard from the ALB were deployed to help with each of the casualties. Dave established an equipment cache while I visited each of the casualties to establish our priorities for evacuation. Interestingly it was our third casualty, dealt with by John Deas who became our highest priority, despite being a walker and so a P3. She had been caught in the blast and had burns to her hands, neck and face. John dressed her hands with 'cling-film' then put her on oxygen. Our concern was that her breathing was laboured and seemed to be getting worse. Needless to say we suspected internal burns to her throat and perhaps lungs so wanted her treated ashore as a priority.

And with that we began our evacuation, no easy feat with two moving boats at sea but achieved safely and speedily.

Our subsequent debrief seemed to show that we had mostly treated the right things and done enough to keep the casualties alive! Indeed all of the staff seemed pleased with the relatively low level of skill fade shown across the crew. That's not so say that there wasn't stuff that we'd forgotten, however, we seemed to have remembered a great deal more and were more confident than after previous courses.

A good result I feel.............