2. He lives his life as a series of adventures, always up to something exciting or planning the next great expedition.
"I'll be there for you
When the rain starts to pour
I'll be there for you
Like I've been there before
I'll be there for you
'Cuz you're there for me too..."
(The Rembrants)
The trainers took the opportunity to pull alongside our vessel and transfer crew, a useful exercise for situations when you need to assist moving vessels.
Kev is truly committed to the cause, he even collected a few phone numbers so that he could offer his assistance in answering any difficult questions that the new staff came up with later on in the day!
As we wave John off on his adventure and with the baton firmly in my hand, I will do my best to fill Johns boots and rather large boots they are too.
Well it seems some time since I have had a holiday. Indeed six whole weeks have passed with me diligently turning up for work each morning! But no more. Half term is here and I'm off. Really off! The plan is to sail to Spain (you see I am really a closet WAFI). I depart on Saturday morning, the passage should take 4ish days and I am booked to fly back a week on Saturday.
Our casualty last night was not feeling too well. In fact, by the time we arrived he was utterly lifeless. Wedged among the rocks access was going to be hard. Dave, Coxswain for the evening, chose to use a breaches bouy to recover him. Nick and Jo set this up under my supervision having first anchored.
Paul E rowed the x-boat in to the coast. This is harder than it looks due to the tide and the drag from the ropes. Nevertheless he achieved it and soon had the casualty in the bouy.
Meanwhile Dave, Jon and Jo advised from the Mersey on how to achieve the rescue.........left a bit, right a bit etc etc!
And before long he was alongside and being recovered on board. Sadly our station Dummy, 'Dead Fred', did not survive his ordeal...........Still, I don't think he suffered too much!
Here the ILB mechanics are busy fettling. Jon is lubing the engine and changing the fuel filter, Becky checks the first aid kit, Paul B and Kev are sorting the ropes in stowages and Oli is checking the Oxygen bottle and masks.
Meanwhile on the Mersey Dave and Paul E have found a defect from the re-fit, one of the engine room bilge sensors has fallen apart due to a cracked length of pipe. Not a show stopper as there are several more bilge sensors in the space but still needs sorting soon.
Swanage is a very popular destination for school visits. Because we are open to visitors during the summer months we are often visited by these school parties. Of course we love this, it is a chance to explain and describe lifeboat work to young people. We hope that this will encourage them to become lifelong supporters of the work we do. The photos here shows Mark, in his capacity as an instructor at a local field studies centre, showing a group of youngsters around. They were having a great time too!
As ever, he makes a seemingly impossible task look straight-forward.
From a distance he lines the boat up in what he feels is the right position. He then engages reverse gear, sights over the top of the engine and aims the prop at the centre of the carriage.
A few small adjustments later and she is up against the stops. He cuts out the engine then gracefully climbs over the sponson. The waiting shore crew takes over the boat; cleans her, fuels her and replaces anything lost or damaged.
Last year Corfe Castle postman Will Blight cycled around the entire coast of the UK and visited every lifeboat station in the country. He did this to raise funds for RNLI and was very successful, £11,000 to date. Tonight he will be speaking at a dinner at Durlston Country park about his trip. There are still places available, if you would like to go look here for details.
Others take advantage of the tides in other ways. Geoff Marsh, ex-lifeboatman, crab boat skipper and plumber takes the chance to give Three Wishes a scrub and inspection below the water line.
On completion he's filthy so Pete from the angling club literally hoses him down.
Somehow Geoff didn't look too amused?
1. For some reason old ladies seem to think that knitted jumpers for teddies, and indeed knitted teddies will somehow help us to achieve heroic rescues in adverse conditions.......and I think that they are right, the boat's teddies are indeed a real comfort to us all! Clare of TBT fame agrees, she thinks that 'those teddies look very supportive perhaps the old ladies knit good wishes and good luck into them.' Is that possible?
2. As a lifeboat crewmember you get to do some really cool things, of course driving a lifeboat is cool, however, getting free rides in helicopters is even better.
3. We always get lots of visitors at the boathouse, many of them are great friends like Jo here. For some reason they don't seem to mind us practising our first aid skills on them.........so trusting and so funny.
I hardly dare to say this, we all know what's going to happen. Last night at about 1700, a small crew boarded Pinky and turned her bow towards Poole. The Repairs to the Robert Charles Brown are complete and the low water slipway trials were a success. Like I say, I hardly dare mention it but I do have a feeling that this time she is here to stay. It seems a shame really, in a way Pinky was beginning to feel quite comfortable and familiar, it's such a long time since we've had RCB I suspect she is now going to feel all wrong!
One of the things we seldom witness when we are called for is self-reliance. It made a pleasant change on Sunday for us to witness someone display resourcefulness and demonstrate a clear ability to sort out their problems for themselves. Heather, in the photo here, has just deliberately capsized and then rolled upright. She made it look not only easy but also fluid. A fine example of how skill, training and prior preparation can overcome adversity.
At times the ILB was almost entirely hidden from view as they practised for heavy weather in the tidal race at peveril.
This is really beyond the limits of their operating envelope, however, with a good helmsman and us close by it is good realistic experience to get.
There is no getting away from it though.......it is damned hard on the body and not even slightly comfortable!
We exercised this morning with my two good kayaking friends Mark and Heather Rainsley. They are both exceptionally skilled paddlers and just the people to lend some reality to an exercise involving lifeboats and kayaks. The weather was realistic to say the least and it was very easy to replicate a real life rescue scenario. However, we proceeded slow time and spent time talking through likely situations, casualty management and how to handle and recover a water filled Kayak. Both Mark and I realised that once you are in a situation in a kayak where you need rescuing, there is no escaping the fact that you are in a very vulnerable position indeed. We are very grateful for both Mark and Heather's efforts on our behalf. I know that their presence this morning has given the crew a very positive glimpse of how sea kayakers operate. Thank you! See Mark's rather jolly account of the morning here.
Err, apparently she's not actually on top form after all, the latest in the comedy saga?! Here's the latest from Dave:
After nearly nine months we finally have the Robert Charles Brown back and it looks like she is here to stay. There are still some slipway trials to be completed but for the time being at least she is comfortably ensconced in her rightful place in the boathouse. Tomorrow we exercise at 9.30 and it will be my first trip down the slipway in her, fingers crossed that all works out well! During tomorrow's exercise we are working with some kayaking friends who will be giving crewmembers an insight into a different sort of craft. My idea is that there may be value in exercising with a particular sort of craft and learning how to deal with the unique problems which they present. In a funny sort of way it will mark a collision of two of my worlds...........
Well, the great and the good of the Wareham branch of the RNLI came to the boathouse last night. Very enjoyable it was too, quite an experience for me as a teacher to find such a willing and well behaved audience. Indeed, seldom have I had such an enthusiastic audience prepared to suffer me talking about my passion for so long and in such detail. It was real 'pull up a bollard and lets talk about me' sort stuff. Of course, I was keen to pass on my detailed technical knowledge (stop laughing Dave) of the boat...........all they wanted was the gory details of our most heroic shouts. I did my best to enliven the stories and make them live up to their expectations. I can't help but think that perhaps I was faintly disappointing in my lack of heroics!?
Lifeboat crews give generously. In so many ways. Now I'm not seeking my own aggrandizement or that of my fellow crew, or indeed seeking thanks for what we do. However, the very obvious generosity of this small band of givers often masks or hides the incredibly generosity of many folk who give but without the glory. I've said it before that without the actions of the little girl stood on a corner selling stickers and shaking a box we would be nothing.
Not all lifeboat shouts are heroic. Indeed, not all lifeboat shouts come to anything. However, something can certainly be learned from most of them. Take Saturday afternoons offering; bright sunny afternoon and a stronger than predicted off-shore breeze. Emphatically not the right time to be messing about in an inflatable toy. 
I've said it before, we are a tight knit bunch as a crew. We make no apologies for this. It's the way it works. last night we had another inspector's exercise, Tom Mansell was in town and put the boat and the crew through their paces. The main theme of the evening was search patterns.........in other words, methods for finding people who are in the water and lost, important stuff, particularly if it is you in the water!
