Seeing double

Well, I was right, it was cold last night. We still had a profitable exercise though. In a rare occurrence we simultaneously had two lifeboats on station. The 'Robert Charles Brown' has had her repairs completed so was brought back to us from Poole by Rob, John D, Gav and a few others.Martin decided that we should use the opportunity to exercise double the number of crew and take both boats out to sea and do some towing and close quarters manoeuvring.On completion of the exercise we tied alongside the pier and swapped our kit from 'Bingo Lifeline' onto the 'Robert Charles Brown' and vice-versa. We then returned RCB to her place in the boathouse and had our crew meeting. Not huge amounts were discussed though Nick and Oli came to the end of their Probationary period and became full crewmembers so congratulations are in order. We also took on 3 new faces as shorecrew. With luck they will in due course prove to be an asset and progress onto the crew proper.

Full on

Yesterday was a full on day. Goodness knows what has happened but we have suddenly got really busy. Not content with having our time filled with our excellent first aid course we also had two shouts. That makes 4 in the last 5 days! Not your average December week.The day kicked off just after 1000 when Portland requested that the ALB launch to recover a local fishing boat which had become attached to the seabed by a line around his propellor. He was located somewhere near Durlston head and, in deteriorating weather conditions he was freed and towed into the town slipway. In typically pragmatic 'fisherman' style he shot away a fleet of pots as he was under tow! Less than an hour after it all started 'Bingo Lifeline' was back in the boathouse, refuelled and ready for further service.Then at 1900, half of the crew gathered for the evenings instalment of our first aid course. It was a very practical evening. The incredible Paul 'Sáuvage' had designed an evening of multiple casualty scenarios. We took it in turns to respond in teams of six, while three at a time played the casualties and three at a time critiqued the responders actions. And it went very well indeed. With some very tricky casualties to deal with our fine training kicked in and we got the job done. Jo here had a nasty abdominal wound combined with a subtle but significantly large amount of bruising on her chest. Chad meanwhile had a nasty leg wound and was bleeding heavily.Meanwhile John had two very nasty arm wounds and had a 'life threatening' bleed. Paul and Skid skillfully dealt with this. First with direct pressure, then a tourniquet and finally with a pressure bandage. They were able to release the tourniquet after no more than 8 minutes. Superb!Wing-Co played the concerned friend with a nasty gash on the head. Not a particularly worrying injury in itself but in the context of the scenario one more thing to factor into the 'Triage' equation. He was also a pain in the proverbial!

But what amazed me about the evening wasn't our response, rather it was the high quality of the course and it's delivery. Paul delivered 3 large, complex scenarios to a group of twelve trainees and kept every one of them busy at all times. Of course the responders had to be on their toes, but the casualties also had to think carefully and work hard to play their particular injury or illness convincingly. They were also expected to respond appropriately to the treatment given.........surprisingly tricky. And then those critiquing had to carefully note all aspects of the treatment and then accurately and honestly provide feedback after the event. Awesome.Then, to round off a busy day we retired to 'The Ship' at about 2200 for a quick pint before bed. At least that's what we thought. Half a pint later we were all running out of the door in response to a page from Portland Coastguard. We launched both boats into fresh conditions to attend a climber stuck at the bottom of Guillemot cliffs near Dancing Ledge. As it turned out conditions were too rough for the ILB and she was sent back while still in Durlston bay. As the ALB arrived on scene the Coastguard cliff rescue team arrived also. It was agreed that the sea conditions were too rough for a seaward extraction except as a last resort and that a cliff rescue would be attempted. Half an hour later this was complete and the rather relieved casualty was back at the top and we were on our way home. I've no idea what time we re-housed 'Bingo Lifeline' but I got to bed at 0100.

A full on day.........

David and Goliath

I've been tired recently. Indeed, we all have due to the first aid course. So when our pagers went off at 0030 this morning I think there were a few groans about the place. As usual we rushed to the boathouse and assembled our kit. Slowly the story began to filter through. There was a pair of large beam trawlers, one trying to tow the other 4 miles south west of St.Alban's Head. The tow had parted and the towed vessel was now drifting at the mercy of the freshening breeze. Next we heard that Weymouth's Severn class lifeboat had launched and was proceeding to the position. The Coastguard seemed unsure whether we would be able to cope with the size of the 180 ton, 22 metre vessel. We were asked to remain in the boathouse at immediate readiness. And so we did, for the next hour and 50 minutes. Needless to say the lads began to get a bit restless and fed-up.

Finally at about 0215 the coastguard asked us to launch so we could escort the boats and ultimately take over the tow before taking the stricken vessel up into Poole harbour. This we did and we spent a couple of hours escorting them until Weymouth's tow parted (snapped) somewhere off Swanage bay. We took over and continued the tow up towards Poole Fairway bouy. Once more the tow began to part strand by strand and eventually the decision was taken for the Beamer's pal to take him in tow alongside as the sea had flattened off considerably in the lee of Studland. Luckily this worked and we put Rob Aggas onboard to pilot him into the harbour while we steamed ahead to show them the way. Eventually the casualty was put alongside Poole town quay at about 0600.

We then carried on up to headquarters to drop our boat off to have some maintenance done. So at 0716 we re-housed on the slipway in Swanage in a relief boat, 'Bingo Lifeline' and after a quick washdown went home to our beds. I climbed into bed at 0755! I should imagine there will be a few early nights tonight?

Read more about this shout in the MCA newsroom and on the Swanage Lifeboat website.