Essential equipment part v

Searching is a fairly intense and often fruitless thing to do. With a crew of seven on the boat we will always have the helmsman searching and probably two others dedicated to the search. We will then rotate crew every 15 minutes or so so that no one crewmember gets too tired. Equally, after this sort of period of time a person's effectiveness as a searcher is vastly diminished, particularly when it is cold, wet, windy and rough. To help us in our search we have three search lights, one fixed on the foredeck and two which can be mounted either side of the upper steering position. They are incredibly effective and if used correctly they can enormously increase the chance of spotting a casualty in the water by night.

On another subject, tonight our crew begins it's 1st Aid refresher course. Paul Savage, one of the instructors from Poole Headquarters, will be coming over each evening this week and next and delivering a highly anticipated course to the crew. We will do this in two halves, some in the late afternoon. And those of us with proper jobs from 7 to 9.30 in the evening! It is never ideal to be on the receiving end of training at this time of night but then there is no other way to fit it in. Luckily Paul is adept at managing his pupil's enthusiasm and energy levels, so I have no doubt there will be plenty of 'war stories'. The key to these things of course is finishing on time. I have no doubt Paul will do this (hint, hint)!