5.30 on a sunny evening

The crew are starting to get hungry, three nights in a row we have had a shout at about 5.30!

Yesterday evening I was just on my way home from a spot of fishing and was about to put our Easter leg of lamb in to roast when my pager went off.

Once again it was the old story of early season engine gremlins and floating ropes which were the culprits. A 28 foot motor boat had broken down and was being towed by another passing vessel. Unfortunately the tide was too strong for them to make any headway. Once we arrived on scene off Durlston head we quickly set up the tow and began the tow back to Swanage. Fortunately for the casualty which was out of Poole, Poole lifeboat were just concluding another rescue in the harbour and were able to come towards Old Harry to take over the tow from us and return the casualty to their home marina.

Once again, no lives saved as such but still a very valuable shout; Three of the 4 man crew of the motor boat were beginning to get cold and would have been in more serious difficulty within a few hours. No doubt in my mind that it is better to extract folk from their predicament before it becomes worse.

From a crew training perspective these shouts are very valuable. Yesterday we took a core crew of 6 to sea and then also Nick and Oli who are very recent crew members. For them it was their first shout (well done lads..........I'm looking forward to that beer) and in very controlled and relatively easy conditions. This allows them to put into practise the lessons of recent exercises and build confidence not only in our capability but also theirs.