There but for the grace of God...

One of the reasons mankind is so successful is his incessant urge to break new ground, push limits and generally go a little bit further. Sometimes those limits bite back at us. One of the common pieces of advice given to sailors, mountaineers, climbers and so on is 'know your limitations'. But how are you supposed to know them unless you get close to them on occasion? And how are you supposed to get better unless you push them?

This afternoon the ILB went across the Bay to investigate someone half way down Ballard cliffs and apparently stuck - they hadn't moved for at least 30 minutes. The cliffs in question are steep, loose and high. They're not easily ascended or descended and there's at least one extra person around today who knows that for a certainty!

We certainly weren't going up there to help - but Coastguard Helicopter India Juliet was at hand to give the person a winch assisted helping hand back to the top.

Attention to Detail

“Success in any endeavor requires single-minded attention to detail and total concentration.” - Willie Sutton



Now I can't quite remember whether lifeboatjohn is back today or tomorrow, so here's a short post to fill in any gap...



Attention to detail on a Lifeboat can make quite a lot of difference. Knowing exactly where an item of equipment is stowed might make the difference between emerging from the survivor's cabin feeling fine, or feeling like a trip to the taffrail is in order. On the other hand, knowing precisely where and how the emergency steering is stowed and rigged might make a rather more fundamental difference.


No one at our station pays more attention to detail than young Turnbull. An example of this is shown in the picture below - a close up of one of our VHF antennae on the Mersey coach roof. Notice the little green stickers. When stowed all the aerials have to lie flat along the coach roof in order to fit the boat in the boathouse. Before launch, the aerials are raised. When the green stickers are in line, the aerial is at the correct rakish tilt. Not vertical, you understand, oh no. Tilting all the antenae forward somewhat serves two very important purposes:

• Presents the antenna vertically when the boat is bow-up under power.


• Looks better in photos

BTW, Willie Sutton, quoted at the top of this post, was a prolific US bank robber. He is also quoted as saying "You can get more with a kind word and a gun than you can get with just a kind word". Thanks for reading this week, and welcome back John.

Can I have one of those, please?

I don't know what the hell this "logistics" is that Marshall is always talking about, but I want some of it. - Admiral E. J. King



Can you imagine the logistics involved in maintaining a nationwide fleet of Lifeboats and Boathouses? Can you imagine the number of 'parts' that go to make up a Mersey Class lifeboat even? There's this place in Poole, reverently known as 'stores', that keeps all these bits & pieces, and gets them out very quickly to any station that needs them.



But how do you know what to order? Look closely at the picture above and you can see an 'RNLI Ident' number on this sticker, found on our wheelhouse hatch. Everything, and I mean *everything*, has an ident number. From a single stainless washer to a Tamar engine and gearbox - they all have their own ident. Rumour has it that Dave Turnbull knows them all, as well.



Every warehouse has it's own humourous stories, and the RNLI Stores is no exception. I heard a story once about a mechanic who mistakenly ordered an entire new engine for his Severn Class, and it turned up on a low-loader a couple of days later. But my favourite - the guy who needed 3m of 6mm bungee. And received "2m, with 1m to follow".

Exercise 'Wise Council'

In brief, today's exercise consisted of the Purbeck Princess with 102 people on board, 10 of whom had serious injuries following an explosion. A further 3 had taken to a liferaft and were unaccounted for.

Swanage ILB was first on scene and did their utmost to triage the casualties. Swanage Lifeboat came alongside with personnel and did its utmost to coordinatethe scene. Both Poole lifeboats assisted (at least, I think the Atlantic was Poole's) as well as a Tamar class Lifeboat (1606) and an Atlantoc 85 (B-802). Rescue Helicopter India Juliet was requested, but was unable to help out in the end.
















The Casualties (burns, open fractures, heart attacks, chest wounds) were all very realistically made up and well acted, adding to the seriousness of the situation.





The liferaft and missing persons were very effectively dealt with by B-802. So efficiently, in fact, that after the initial request to 'go search for it' was issued, very little communication was needed.








Casualties were first aided, evacuated to either Poole Lifeboat or the Tamar and taken into Poole Harbour. The Purbeck Gem herself was towed from the confines of Studland Bay to deeper water before a mysterious voice known as 'Exercise Control' declared an end. Something like an hour from launch.









But if I've made it sound like a slick operation without a foot put wrong, then think again! Communications were very difficult as all units were trying to get help in or information out. I can't imagine Portland Coastguard got a clear picture of the situation. I'm pretty certain that I didn't either! We returned to station with 'missing' a crewman (we knew where he was, just not on our boat!). It'll take us a couple of days to find where all our kit's gone and who all this other stuff belongs to!

So in conclusion: Job Done. Some good points, and some not so good. Lessons learned and feedback gratefully received. Thanks Robert, but could we do it the summer next time?

We're going to have a Shout tomorrow!

"No battle plan survives contact with the enemy" - Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

Robert Aggas, our 2nd Cox'n and trials skipper for the RNLI, has spent a huge amount of time organising an exercise to test the ability to respond to a significant maritime emergency occuring in our patch.

As well as local Lifeboats, Coastguards, Helicopters and who knows what else, the exercise will involve a commercial leisure boat with more than 100 people on board. Something is going to go wrong with it (perhaps involving smoke & bangs?) and the Swanage Lifeboats will be the first resource to respond. And that's all we know.

So while I'm certain that it is planned intricately from one perspective, we haven't got a clue what we'll be up against. And that, of course, is where it reflects a real shout so well. I know that as soon as we hit the water the crew involved will be immersed in the situation so much that exercise and reality will blur. Training opportunities on this scale are hugely valuable, everyone from the Cox'n down will learn something about themselves, the boats, the team. Anything that can be re-applied in a real situation will make the whole thing worthwhile.

I'll let you know how we get on...

To the Lifeboat, boys!

"Only two sailors, in my experience, never ran aground. One never left port and the other was an atrocious liar."-Don Bamford

I'm told that in the olden days, maroons were fired to summon the crew should the boat be required. For sure we have crew still serving that can remember when the quickest way to spread the word was by phone.

But when I joined we used pagers, and they remain the chosen method. The first pager I had was capable of two things - a very loud shriek followed by an incoherent noise like that of an untuned radio. This was because the pager 'listened' to VHF channel zero and if you were really really lucky you could hear someone saying something about a lifeboat as you ran down the road.

Our current pagers are also triggered by radio, broadcast from our boathouse. This system can be intitiated from Portland Coastguard, from in the boathouse itself or by phone if you know the necessary incantation. The signal transmitted from the boathouse is not only received by our pagers, but also by an aerial on Nine Barrow Down. From here it is re-transmitted, thus ensuring excellent coverage around town. Another advancement is that the pagers can now display text messages, not just bleeps. So now the same system used to summon the crew for a shout is also used to let us know that the next exercise is on Thursday afternoon.

But this is how I like to see my pager after a day out of town...

It could get to be a busy day.

I've just received the details of the ILB launch earlier today. From the website:

The second shout of the day came when Portland Coastguard received a '999' phone call from a member of the public concerned for the safety of the crew of a small yacht close inshore at the southern end of the main beach, Swanage. Waves were breaking over the bow of the yacht and the crew seemed to be struggling with their situation. The Inshore Lifeboat crew were paged and the Lifeboat was afloat 5 minutes later. Once on scene 2 Lifeboat crew were put aboard the yacht, a towline connected and the anchor recovered. The yacht was then towed into deeper water and finally secured to the Lifeboat mooring. The yacht's crew were then brought ashore to dry off and warm up. The Lifeboat crew then returned to the main beach to see if they could recover the swamped tender. Unfortunately it was badly holed so it was carried up the beach and recovered by road. It transpired that the yacht's tiller had broken and it was this, along with a fouled propeller that had caused their problems.

Swanage Bay is open to the East, so whilst it is a comfortable anchorage most of the time, it can become a lee shore and catch out the unfortunate. Most commonly, boats break free from moorings or drag their anchors all by themselves. Less often those vessels have people aboard and the situation is a little more serious. The ILB is well equipped for these situations, shallow draft, very manoeuvrable and punchy enough to drive through the surf. What it lacks, though, is pulling power (like many of the crew :) so often the Mersey needs to be involved to provide the necessary muscle. Sounds like Chad, Tom, Deasy and OC managed well enough today though.

This is your Early Morning Call....

My pager says "0352 - System Test". That's a bit keen - even for Dave. Not really a surprise, then, when it's followed by "0354 - Launch Request Coastguard" and "0356 - Launch ALB".

The ALB is launched a few minutes later to a position very close to the Peveril Ledge Buoy, just a few hundred metres from the end of our slipway. The 38' sloop 'Eleanor B' has suffered what sounds like 'lot's of things falling off and generally not working' syndrome and has 999'd Portland Coastguard for assistance.

As I write the ALB has secured the 'Eleanor B' up at Poole Quay and is returning to station. But what does everyone who is waiting to help rehouse do in the waiting hours? Learn to fly a helicopter, obviously...

Hitched or Bent?

"I thought I heard the Old Man say, 'Give one more haul, and then belay'" - Sea Shanty

There are 67 different knots described in 'The Ashley Book of Knots'. And that's only in chapter 20 titled 'Belaying and Making Fast'. It begins "A hitch is a complication that secures a rope to another object, generally of a different nature. But this is not necessarily so, since the object may be another rope provided the hitch is made entirely with the active rope and the second rope remains inactive."

With today's technology, knotting and splicing is often replaced by shackles, carabiners and camcleats and the world brought to life in the Ashley Book of Knots is distant. But even today you can't avoid tying knots aboard a boat and every crewman needs to know how to handle ropes in a seamanlike fashion. New crewmembers can often be seen throwing heaving lines down the slipway and making lines off on the ILB gate. And of course we wouldn't dream of taking the mickey out of anyone who misses the Mersey on recovery...

Cutting Edge

"I've always wanted to go to Switzerland and see what the army does with those wee red knives" - Billy Connolly

As you'd expect, there's a variety of cutting tools readily available on board a Lifeboat, strategically placed to be fairly close to hand should the urge to chop something arise.

Common to both ILB and ALB is a pretty ordinary looking knife like this one...







It's a good piece of kit - sharp end, blunt end, light smearing of grease, job done.






On the ILB transom we keep a purposeful looking rope cutter.







No pointy bits for some reason...

But the real reason for this post is to introduce this frightening piece of equipment which is used to extricate unfortunate vessels from fishing nets and so on. Like the infamous Ghurker's Khukri, it's unusual for this bit of kit to be stowed away without someone's blood being spilt.

Rapid Response Search

Now this is the sort of thing to have a grown navigator chew his pencil. It is the diagram used to create a search area when looking for things missing in the water (divers, crewmen etc). It's called a rapid response search and enables one to take a last known position, compensate for environmental factors and elapsed time, and come up with a reasonably accurate area within which the casualty is likely to be. And the thing is it works very well. In reality of course it is normally the Coastguards sat in their ops room who do the sums then pass the co-ordinates of the search area to us. However, we need to know how to do it and be well practised at doing it.

So I am away now for my summer holidays in Stockholm. Wing-Co is taking over the hot seat for a week and will be here daily to entertain you. I trust he won't let us down!

Nerve Centre

Well, this is where it is at. The nerve centre of our operation..........the kettle! On being paged the mechanic's first task is to get on board the boat, turn on the batteries and then turn on the boiler. What amazes me is how rough it can be and yet still be possible to make and drink a cup of coffee. Great stuff. Next to it is a caravan style pump linked to a water bottle for refilling it while at sea. There have been occasions when this has run out and we have been reduced to syphoning water out of the windscreen washer bottles in order to refill the boiler..........priorities.

The Chairman

At each Lifeboat station there are two sort of separate organisations. The Operational team and the fundraising/administrative team. The later is known as the Branch Guild. In our case this is headed by Robin Tiller their Chairman. Robin brings energy and drive to this important job which is tremendous to observe. He has lots to do, mainly involving writing letters and trying to organise disorganised bunches of volunteers, and of course at this time of year he is the figure head of our lifeboat week. No easy task. Last night I had the curious pleasure of attending one of the planning meetings for this years extravaganza. Rather surprisingly it was good. Robin cut to the chase and focused on the details of what will make the week a success. This all left me with the feeling that if the weather Gods consider us favourably, then we could be in for a great week. Bring it on.

On another note.......did I tell you that it is only two days till the start of the summer holidays? Any ideas how I'm going to fill six weeks off work?

Dancing in the moonlight
everybodys feeling warm and bright
it's such a fine and natural sight
everybody's dancing in the moonlight

We like our fun and we never fight
you cant dance and stay uptight
it's a supernatural delight
everybody was dancing in the moonlight
(Toploader)

Flankers

On Sunday we had a surprise visit from the crew of our Flank station in Poole. These lads rarely get out of the harbour so for them it is a real treat to sail on the wide open sea. They claimed to need to have a good run to drain their reserve diesel tank. I recon they just wanted to come our way to nick some of our shouts (not that we would notice at then moment)! Anyway, as ever it was a delight to see them and share a cup of coffee over a few 'dits'.

We sail the ocean blue,
And our saucy ship's a beauty;
We're sober men and true,
And attentive to our duty.
When the balls whistle free
O'er the bright blue sea,
We stand to our guns all day;
When at anchor we ride
On the Portsmouth tide,
We have plenty of time to play.
(Gilbert & Sullivan)

Full house

Yesterday, before the exercise we spent some time getting a new crew photo for the boathouse. The weather wasn't up to much but what the heck, we got it done.It involved a fair amount of milling around, laughing and jokingAnd no small amount of hanging about with hands in pockets.And here are a few snapshots from the morning. Here is the whole team, crew, Coastguard, DLAs, Boathouse attendants and guild members.And this was the crew shot, fully kitted up and ready for action!

We're all going on a............

Summer holiday as it happens. In a mere 6 days the summer holidays will begin. My plans involve two short trips away, one to Sweden with my wife's family and one to Yorkshire to see mine. As ever a guest blogger will step into my boots and keep this space filled with excitement as ever!Meanwhile, my pals Mark and Heather (fellow teachers) have a summers worth of kayaking plans ahead of them.Heather flies off to Canada to paddle the Ottawa with a group of girlfriends. Mark on the other hand is staying close by but has ambitions to paddle the entire South-Wet peninsula. With a commission for a guidebook to fulfill he has little choice..........poor bugger! Naturally I am intensely jealous of them both but enjoyed hearing of their plans whilst paddling our local stretch last night.Safe journeying both of you.

Station Visit Team

Angela Morris is another fairly recent addition to our team in Swanage. She is one of a small band of volunteers who come and 'man' the boathouse to keep it open so that visitors can pop in and look around.

She also spends time showing school parties around, and they get a pretty good trip too.......dressing up in oilskins, helmets and lifejackets. It's important work too. Without the support of these youngsters the work of the lifeboats wouldn't be able to continue in the long term. Of course, despite what the media would have you think, the 'Playstation Generation' are normally utterly captivated by the whole tour and thrill to hear tales of bravery and daring-do.

Angela, thanks for all you do.......

The funny thing is

A few weeks back an over-zealous bystander called the Coastguard and before you know it we were in Kimmeridge attempting to rescue several fishermen who really didn't need rescuing at all. Suddenly yesterday this blog began to get a lot of hits from an angling internet forum. It turns out that one of the fellows who didn't need rescuing, was busily engaged on this forum in a discussion about how to prevent over anxious members of the public calling out the lifeboat for you when you are actually fine! Now I fully understand this as it is a concern that I have when I go to sea in my kayak. Needless to say, said chap is very good humoured and has taken the whole thing very well, good on him..........

It reminded me that some weeks further back this blog also got suddenly very popular with members of the border terrier internet forum fraternity! I wonder how many of them still read it? It's a funny little internet world we inhabit isn't it??

Real Live Rescue

Some months ago now we spent one Sunday morning exercising in fairly rough weather with some local sea kayakers. The idea was for us as a crew to get used to dealing with the specific issues to be found whilst dealing with a particular type of craft.I also used this exercise as the basis for a short article in Canoe Kayak UK magazine. The idea being to raise awareness of what can be expected from the rescue services and to give a rough idea of what might happen should a sea kayaker have to call the Coastguard.This has now been published and features some great photographs shot by fellow crew member Paul Elleray. I'm delighted with the article and think Paul's photos look superb.........what a talented chap he is!

In answer to the question...........

What happens to old lifeboats when they are no longer needed?Here is another answer to the question which can be found locally.This is one of about half a dozen old vessels which are moored close to the chain ferry near Studland and used as house boats. This one was extensively restored recently and is in fine condition.

Old timers

Being a reasonably small community, crew who have retired from the Lifeboat service tend to stay in touch. Seldom is the boathouse open and there is not an old crewman hanging around. Some volunteer as boathouse attendants and are there to show the public around, some just pop in for tea and biscuits whenever they pass. Either way it is great to have them around. Sometimes to share war stories old and new and sometimes just to reflect on the exigencies of the service.

The photo here shows Chris Haw, past coxswain and local dentist chatting with Mike Bonfield, ex station mechanic. Both retired from the boat at about the same time after many years of distinguished service but still maintain a keen presence around the boathouse. All part of the family.

Cliffs.......

Once again we have had a weekend of rather frustrating shouts. It was a weekend of sunshine and strongish breezes so we had anticipated being called for something. However, neither of our shouts were quite what we expected.

At about 4.30 on Friday afternoon we were tasked to Ballard point to stand by at the base of the cliff as a man was at the top and threatening to jump. Once on scene the crew were asked to keep the person under observation as he was out of sight of the police. Always a difficult shout as there is little that we can do, tragically we are just there to pick up the pieces if it all goes wrong. Luckily in this case the Police talked the man out of it before he jumped so after about 3 hours the ILB was released and returned to the boathouse.

The next call came late in the afternoon on Saturday. A great many of the crew were out on the water in various craft when the pagers went off. Within moments they all turned and headed for the slipway which rapidly took on the look of a boat jumble. The call this time was to two dogs which had gone over the cliff edge near Anvil Point lighthouse. One of the dogs could be seen in the sea, the other could not be seen and the ILB was asked to search the vicinity. The dog in the sea was recovered and a thorough search of the area made. With nothing immediately found, Swanage Coastguard deployed their cliff rescue team for a better view from over the edge of the cliff, unfortunately this did not yield any results either. With the Coastguard happy that no further action could be taken, the Cliff team and the ILB were able to return to station.

It's curious how each year seems to have a run of certain types of shout. The year before last we had a lot of diver related shouts, last year it was suicides, this year it is animals so far. I wonder if it will continue?

Fancy a challenge?

Have you ever wanted to build a boat? Have you ever wondered what is the largest boat that can be built from one sheet of plywood? Want to combine your love of carpentry and swimming? Ever wanted to try your hand at being ‘up a creek without a paddle’? Then the inaugural Swanage Lifeboat 'Build-a-Boat’ competition is for you. The rules are simple:

You can enter as a Team or an individual.
You can do as much research before hand as you like but can only bring one sheet of A4 notes/drawings with you on the day.
You provide all your own tools (battery operated tools are allowed but not mains).
We provide the materials:

· 1 x sheet of 9mm x 1200mm x 2400mm ply
· 2 x 2400mm lengths of 25mm x 50mm baton
· 1 x Box of 25mm pins
· 1 x Box of 25mm nails
· 1 x Polyurethane glue
· 1 x Roll of duck tape
· A paddle

The competition will take place on Saturday 18th August and will start at 11:00 and building must be completed by 16:00, judging will be on the water, the first boat (paddled by one member of the building team, he/she must be wearing a buoyancy aid/lifejacket, provided by you) to complete the course (from the Quay to Main Beach) will be deemed to have won.

At the end of the competition the boat that you have made is yours to keep and we ask that you arrange to have it collected from the area by the Tourist Information Centre on the seafront ASAP.

If you would like to enter the competition contact the boathouse and return the completed entry form to ‘Jewsons’ by Sat 4th Aug.

Free Fallin'

Last night's exercise was good fun. We have had some windy weather recently so the seas out in the channel were pretty big. Ideal weather in fact for some realistic man over board practise and deploying the drogue. Indeed last night it was pretty hard to keep the boat going in the direction you wanted without the drogue. When the seas are reasonably large we also like to go out and just have a good run out to sea. This serves the purpose of giving new crewmembers a taste of the rough stuff but more importantly, gives the boat a good shake up (there's no better way to check if things are working properly than giving them some stick in rough weather). It's all great fun of course but bone jarring when you take off over a larger than average wave and free fall on the other side. In the picture we have just landed; I think Becky is enjoying herself?

And i'm free, free falling.
Yeah i'm free, free falling.
(Tom Petty)

Toll Bar

On the evening of Friday 29 Jun 2007 an RRU (Rapid Reaction Unit) team deployed to Sheffield in support of the flooding near Toll Bar; in particular their task was to position themselves as a SRT (Swiftwater Rescue Team) and water capable QRF (Quick Reaction Force) should evacuation or rescue be required. An increasing threat to life was envisaged as heavy rain was forecast. The request to deploy came from the newly formed National Flood Support Unit that was set up in Worcester to coordinate the rescue assets available for national flood response. John Deas, a fellow Swanage Lifeboat Crew volunteer, is a member of this RRU team.Here is John looking wet and characteristically happy after a hard 24 hours work (something he is not entirely accustomed to!John is a Land Rover and Range Rover fan so it must have hurt seeing this?Generally speaking John tries to avoid getting into this close proximity with the Police!Still, I think he enjoyed himself, pity they made him catch the bus home......

From the report it sounds as if these guys did some valuable work and helped maintain safety, communications links and emergency transport in the area. Good work John!

* * * Lifeboat Week 2007 * * *

Plans for this year's lifeboat week are now well advanced and we are starting to really look forward to this exciting time in our year. This year, Lifeboat week will run from Sunday the 12th of August to Sunday the 19th of August. Each year we tweak the format and add to what is already a great fun week. This year is no exception. Last year's week was a great success with the Music, bar and BBQ in Prince Albert Gardens being tremendous fun. This year we are building on that and are planning to do two evenings in Prince Albert Gardens. The only thing better than a great party is two great parties! The programme so far is below, hopefully in the next week I should be able to add some detail such as which bands will be playing and any other events which will be going on. As with last year the crew will be creating two paintings helped by local artists Nina Camplin and Anonia Phillips, the photos which these will be based on have come from this blog and one completed picture will be auctioned on the pier on the Sunday and one will be auctioned on eBay, again, watch this space:

Sun 12th: Ladies Fair, Swanage Sea Front
Mon 13th: Darts Final, The Crows Nest
Tues 14th: Junior Pennant Sailing Race
Weds 15th: Fun Quiz, Swanage Conservative Club
Thurs 16th: Senior Pennant Sailing Race
Fri 17th: Flag Day + Live Music & Bar in Prince Albert Gardens
Sat 18th: Raft Race + Live Music, BBQ & Bar in Prince Albert Gardens
Sun 19th: Lifeboat Festival, Swanage Pier

Nightswimming deserves a quiet night.
Im not sure all these people understand.
Its not like years ago,
The fear of getting caught,
Of recklessness and water.
They cannot see me naked.
These things, they go away,
Replaced by everyday.
Nightswimming, remembering that night.
(REM)

Who's who

Dave, our mechanic is bit of a IT guru. He maintains and indeed built our station website. At present he is in the process of updating the crew info section of this and has asked me to write a short 'Bio' of each crewmember. This is actually harder than it sounds as there is very little about any of our crew which is suitable for public consumption. Anyway, always up for a challenge I've sent each of them a little questionnaire so that I can have at least a few facts upon which to base my lies. So, as a starter, here is the first one I have done, I give you, the one and only, Jonnnnnnnnnnnn Deare (bythe way, the photo is of Jon and shows his good side....):

Jon joined the crew in 1988 so is approaching the magical 20 years service. He is our head launcher which gives him the un-enviable task of trying to tame the kindergarten while we are away on shouts. He claims to have once had a proper job, however, he now lists his occupation as ‘beach hut manager’. We’ve no idea what this involves but suspect that it allows him plenty of time to indulge his favoured pass time of bird watching. When not at ‘work’ or at the boathouse Jon is most likely to be found at the pub, indeed, because of him our exercise schedule is determined by the opening times of the ‘Crow’s nest’. His lifeboating claim to fame is having once shared a stretcher with a labrador suffering from urinary tract failure………mm, nice!