Even after all...

It is not uncommon during an exercise to use a vast amount of the kit that we carry onboard. The list of equipment which we get out might include the 'x-boat', first aid kits, stretcher, emergency steering, salvage pump, drogue, tow rope etc etc. Once back in the boathouse much of this can be re-packed and stowed away for next time. However, a lot of it needs to be dried off first. Consequently, the morning after an exercise, the boat looks a little bit like a gypsy camp with the boat festooned with kit waiting to dry. If we subsequently get a shout there is bit of a scramble to return all of the kit to its proper stowage before we launch. Otherwise Dave will do it over the course of the next day or two as and when the kit drys.

Even after all
You just survive soldier
And your soul is beautiful
And your soul is good
Ride on and turn the people on
(Even after all - Finlay Quaye)

Flaps

Each All Weather Lifeboat is designed so that it can not only survive a capsize but also continue to operate afterwards. Although the main cabin (wheelhouse) and the engine room are seemingly waterproof and sealed they do in-fact have a number of openings in their structures. For example, the engine room has openings to allow air in and out for cooling and also for the engines to be able to breath.

Each of these openings is marked on the deck with red paint and also numbered (odds to starboard and evens to port). In the event of a fire they can be manually shut to seal the space and prevent oxygen from reaching the fire. Some of them, such as this one, are also designed to self close in the event of a capsize to prevent water ingress.

Roving fender

As a rule we try not to damage casualty vessels when we come alongside them.

It's not the top priority you understand; we are, after all, there to save lives and folk should understand that when they call for us. However, if at all possible we take a great amount of care to prevent damage. Routinely this means that in addition to the 'D' fendering on the side of the Mersey we also attach a line of extra inflatable fenders. We carry six so we tie five and use the last one as a 'Roving Fender'. On almost every shout I have been on this (and the skilled driving of Martin of course) has been enough to mean both vessel return unscathed.

There are of course occasions where this kind of nicety is so far down the list of priorities as to be irrelevant!

Emergency steering

So one of the seamanship evolutions we practised on Sunday morning was rigging and using the emergency steering. The Mersey's primary steering system is a hydraulic system which is robust, reliable but ultimately not infallible. A situation could be imagine where a hose splits or a pump fails and this would leave us with no steering. Now in a boat with two engines and two props this is not a major problem provided the steering fails when the rudders are in the centre. However, if they fail with 30 degrees of starboard rudder on it would be handy to be able to bring them back to midships.

For just this situation our steering system is designed so that the hydraulics can be disengaged allowing the rudders to move freely, we then carry two block and tackles which can be rigged onto a lever on the top of the rudder stock to enable the rudders to be moved (because the rudders are semi-balanced and small they are light enough to be moved even at full speed). The system only takes a few minutes to rig but needs two crewmembers to operate who must stand in pretty exposed positions on the rear deck.

Once rigged the system can be used to steer the vessel both at slow speed and high speed but the preferred option is generally to centre both rudders and then steer on the engines. Nevertheless, we often rig it and practise using it as it is good for developing teamwork and highlights the need for good, clear and timely communications.

Fit for purpose

This looks like a medieval instrument of torture. It's not. It is in fact a rather cleverly designed machine which allows some one's ability to pull a piece of rope to be tested.Why would you want to test this? Well, it is deemed, by the powers that be in the RNLI, to be a representative task that a lifeboat crewmember could be expected to perform while serving on a lifeboat. And so, it has been included in the newly introduced fitness test which all crewmembers must now pass.

Tonight we gathered at the station to take this test for the first time. The idea behind it is, I think (and I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong), simply to make sure that crewmembers have a basic level of physical fitness to allow them to proceed to sea in a lifeboat and perform any tasks which might be expected of them. Makes sense. It has also allowed the RNLI to do away with a compulsory retirement age. Now, once a crewmember has reached a certain age, they take this test every year and can remain on the crew beyond the previous age limit of 55 (provided they pass). This is excellent for the RNLI because it means that they can retain their most experienced crew beyond what was previously an essentially arbitrary retirement age. What sensible and pragmatic thinking!So, for my sins, I had to undertake the test. To be honest it was all a bit of a laugh. The final exercise was the rope pulling thing and naturally we all became a bit competitive with this. Of course I couldn't possibly be so indiscreet as to say who got the best time. So, I simply want to say......well done you plucky losers!

Adventurous living

Being an adventurous sort of a person, I have ambitions to wear more rubber this year. I also plan to wear more lycra. Being the season for making oneself daft promises I've decided to take part in the Swanage Triathlon in August. Now I'm a competent runner and we can all cycle (can't we?) However, I swim like a brick! Should be fun.

On a related note. I'll be doing this to raise money for the lifeboats. Watch this space for further details. Also, I have a shortage of the necessary equipment. So if you have any spare Triathlon kit lying around (or would like to sponsor kit!) that you are willing to donate to the cause it would be gratefully accepted. I'm large (6ft, 34inch waist) and specifically need: a triathlon wetsuit, goggles, a triathlon race suit, size 11 cycling shoes, bike helmet and tri-bars for a racing bike. Worth a try!

We are exercising tomorrow so be sure to visit for the first sight of the Robert Charles Brown at sea in 2008.

On this day . . .

Yesterday I eluded to the fact that today was John's birthday . . I'm sure you'd all like to join me in saying "Happy Birthday!!" Because of data protection laws (and the fact that John's wife Liz is a very scary lawer) I can't tell you exactly how old he is but I do know that he's now closer to 40 than 30 . . now that is scary. I hope you've had a good day John wherever you are at the moment, don't drink too much tonight we wouldn't want you to end up like this again!

The other thing that happened on this day in 1992 is that I was officially enrolled as a new crewmember at Swanage Lifeboat Station. I knew it was in December some time but until I looked it up at the beginning of the week I didn't know for sure. I can't quite believe that it was 15 years ago, I know you're probably thinking Dave doesn't look old enough to have been there 15 years, well that's because I joined when I was 11! I wish! Actually I was 19 when I joined and was one of six new crew taken on to crew the new D Class that was to be evaluated at Swanage from March 1993. Of those six only Colin Marks and I remain, scarily for Colin (and me a bit) I'm now the age he was when he joined! The first winter as a crewmember was a little odd to say the least, for a start we didn't have a boat, we didn't really know that many people and we had pagers that didn't receive the DLA's page so we only knew about a shout 2 or 3 minutes after everyone else. But once the Spring came we got a boat and a capsize boat and we could start training in earnest.

By the middle of the day our saluting was coming on quite nicely! I think this was because Neil happened to appear at station, one thing I do remember is that it was bloody cold. Its worth noting the old style beaufort lifejackets, Tony (far left) is wearing an orange bump cap, the rest of us have motorcycle crash helmets on, you can imagine how heavy these got when they were wet, which they were most of the time.

Look at this fresh faced young lifeboat man :o)

By April of 1993 the relief D Class was officially put on service only to be taken away again for the winter. At that time quite a lot of ILB stations were summer time only. In the spring of 1994 another relief boat arrived and this time we got to keep it for a whole year. After evaluation in the Winter of '94, Spring '95 the RNLI concluded that there was a case to have an ILB at Swanage all year round. This meant that on the 8th April 1995 we had our brand new boat 'Phyl Clare 2' and we also had a boathouse to keep it in rather than a portacabin in the boatpark that we'd using up until then. Unfortunately I can't find any photos of the portacabin, if anyone's got any please let me have a copy.

As time went on I moved up the crew, I became an ILB Helmsman then ILB Senior Helmsman, ALB 3rd Mechanic, ALB 2nd Mechanic, ALB Deputy 2nd Coxswain and finally Station Mechanic in Feb 2002. I haven't forgotten my ILB roots though and I like to do one shout a year in it. Obviously I don't go if its cold, wet or too far from the station that's why we've got those keen fresh faced young ILB crew . . ah now I know why I used to get sent out on all those trips years ago!

Mind your head

Today has been a pretty quiet day at the lifeboat station, other than Neil our LOM arriving with 30 bottles of wine! Every Christmas Mrs Phyl Cleare gives each of the crew a bottle of wine. Mrs Cleare is the lady who bought us our first D Class, Phyl Clare II, along with her late husband, Jack. She also bought our current D Class and it is named Jack Cleare in his memory. Thanks Phyl and Happy Christmas from all at the station.

I was also expecting my line manager, Dave Page (Divisional Engineer/South) to come and visit today for one of our P&D (Performance & Development) meetings but he suffered a blow out in the outside lane of a dual carriageway on his way up from Cornwall and he needed to return home to steady his nerves and possibly change his trousers! Anyway this gave me a chance to get a few things done at the station.

Over the years the RNLI has had various different types of helmets ranging from bump caps to motorcycle helmets. More recently though we have been using helmets produced by Gecko Headgear. These started off as the Mk8, then the Mk9 and most recently the Mk10 (left to right Mk8, Mk9, Mk10)

At first glance they look pretty similar but they are very different. The Mk8 was available in XS, S, M, L, XL and XXL and as a result everyone had to have one of their own that was the right size. They were also pretty uncomfortable and I never really had one that fitted me properly. The Mk9 was a great improvement, there were 2 sizes, Small and Normal. A correct fit was achieved by fitting different thickness pads into the helmet, 3 different thicknesses were provided and within 5 minutes you had a pretty comfortable fit. The drawback was though that you still needed one each.

The introduction of the Mk10 though changed all of this. It is fitted with an inflatable liner that moulds to your head, simply opening a valve on the end of a tube allows the wearer to adjust the fit. This means that there is no need for people to have helmets of their own as they can be adjusted to fit very quickly.

As I was going to have to order 5 new helmets for newly enrolled crew at a cost of £160 each it seemed like an excellent time to rationalise the helmets at the station. Previously some crew have had 2 helmets, 1 for the ALB, 1 for the ILB this was due to the fact that they are stored in totally seperate places and ILB helms had intercom wires that just get in the way if you're not plugged in. So after talking with Martin the Coxswain and our Divisional Inspector we decided to change the system completely. We decided to put 8 helmets aboard the ALB, 6 in the ILB shed and 3 for the ALB shore crew. This meant that we could send 9 helmets to another station in our Division and send the remainder back to Poole for re-allocation although its unlikely that the Mk8 helmets will be re-issued as they are pretty much at the end of their working life now.

Ensuring that the money people give us is put to best use can be a bit tricky but in this case its just a case of using your head!

Look out for tomorrow's post . . its someone's birthday . . someone who has a blog but currently is not in control of it . . someone who is going to be nearer 40 than 30 . . I'm saying no more!

COACS

When John handed over the blog to me he asked me to do 2 things.

1. Increase the hits to 500 a day

2. Tell people about the pager system

One of these is easy, the other a little more difficult! So I thought I'd do the easy one first.

In early 1999 the RNLI embarked on a nationwide project to replace its existing paging solution. This varied from BT pagers, Multitone pagers triggered by the Coastguard on VHF Channel 0 and another BT type system in the Channel Islands. The plan was to replace all these different systems with one. After testing at a handful of stations around the country the COACS (Call Out and Communication System) was born. The contract was awarded to NTL (who were bought out by Arqiva a couple of years ago) and in Sept 1999 the role out to all 232 RNLI Lifeboat Stations began. Our station was the first of the official role out, mainly due to our proximity to Poole HQ and Poole Lifeboat Station that was one of the trial stations. There were a few teething problems including our pagers going off everytime Poole ILB went out . . the pager would helpfully say 'Poole ILB launched on service' great, just what you want to know in the middle of the night! These were quickly ironed out and the system has basically remained the same since then.

The Call out part is basically the pager and the system used to trigger it. The pager that we are currently using (although this is being replaced gradually now) is a Multitone unit. It does pretty much what you'd expect . . makes a noise, vibrates and displays text.

The first message we get when there's a shout is 'Launch Request Coastguard' this is Portland Coastguard requesting assistance from one or both of our lifeboats. This message is intended for the Duty Launching Authority but all our crew receive it and they understand that there may be a 'Cancel Launch' message if the DLA decides that the job isn't one for a lifeboat. 90% of the time within a minute or two the pager will go off again, this time with either 'Launch ALB', 'Launch ILB', 'Launch Both Boats' there are also a couple of immediate readiness messages too. Once a launch message is received the crew know that the DLA has authorised the launch and they can proceed to sea. All of the paging is done by phone, the Coastguard and DLA dial into this box of tricks (each station has one with a choice of pine or beech wood trim!).

Inside this box there's the fancy electronics, transmitter, battery backup etc required to fill Swanage and the surrounding area with a strong enough radio signal to trigger the pagers. In order to make sure that the coverage is 100% the signal is also rebroadcast from a remote aerial site on Nine Barrow Down. In the event of phone line or some other sytem failure it is possible to trigger the pagers by pressing the buttons on the front panel (yes there is a secret to it to stop people fiddling!).

In case there are visitors in the boathouse, and there are plenty in the summer, there is a scroll board and a number of sirens that go off with the pagers. The scroll board displays the same message as the crew's pagers. This gives our Boathouse attendants a chance to escort any visitors out before the crew arrive. In the days before the new system I've been the first to the station opened the back door and promptly fallen over a pack of brownies who were having a talk!

If the pagers go off at night (somehow the magic box knows when sunrise and sunset are every day of the year) then the red lights inside the boathouse and the lights on both slipways are switched on. This gives the slipway lights a chance to warm up and get to full brightness and is one less thing for the crew to worry about when they arrive.

The Communication part of the system is made up of 3 parts. 6 handheld PMRs, 1 fixed radio on the Mersey and a transmitter/scrambler on Nine Barrow Down. This system allows us to have secure comms with the lifeboat when its at sea, secure comms between the shore crew, secure comms between lifeboats and even patch into a phone line to make phone calls.

Initially it was thought that DLAs would carry one of these PMRs at all times as it is possible to phone the Coastguard from it and page the crew but as mobile phone coverage got better and better they tend to be the prefered method.

Arqiva constantly monitor all RNLI lifeboat stations for any problems with the system and if it should fail, which it never has for us in 8 years, then there are always good old maroons!

A good servicing

Lifejackets are probably the most important piece of PPE (personal protective equipment) that we have. We have 22 in total, 11 ALB and 11 ILB. Both jackets are made by Crewsaver to the RNLI's spec. The ALB jacket has no natural buoyancy but has 2 inflatable bladders, 1 that fires automatically if the wearer enters the water, the other is fired manually to give extra buoyancy to support another person or help if you're going to be in the water for any length of time. The ILB jacket has built in foam buoyancy and a single manually activated bladder to provide extra support. They are exchanged annually, usually towards the end of February for our station, but we are required to service them every 3 months to ensure that everything is as it should be. If a jacket is used in anger, ie inflated, then it must be serviced before it is made available to the crew again. Monday night is the night that myself, Paul, Skid, Kev and a few others, Mr B, Matt and Ollie turned up tonight, go to the station to do routine maintenance. Given the cold North Easterly wind that was whistling through the station being upstairs in the crew room seemed like an excellent idea.

We usually start with the ALB jackets as they're the most time consuming, complicated and awkward to repack. The first thing to do is to remove the 2 CO2 gas cylinders and inflate the jacket using the oral inflation tubes.

With the jacket inflated as hard as you can get it (this shows the smokers versus the non-smokers!) you can then start to check the webbing straps, the light, the flares, lifeline and the general condition of the material. After about 10 or 15 mins its pretty obvious whether the jacket is losing air or not, if all's well then all the air is let out the CO2 cylinders are re-fitted (failing to do this, packing the jacket away and then finding them on the table where you left them is called 'Doing a Shi' due to the number times that he manages to do this!). Once all the air is expelled and with a bit of careful folding the jacket is back to a usuable state. The servicing log is then signed along with the label on the jacket itself.

Once all the ALB jackets are done its time to move onto the ILB jackets. These are split up slightly as there are 3 that are used just for the ALB slip the only difference is that they don't have the 2 day/night flares fitted. The jackets are serviced in the same way but as they have foam buoyancy there is only 1 inflatable bladder to inflate . . that's good as some people are getting a little out of breath by now!

Once again you need to check the straps, light, lifeline and flares (if fitted). Once you're happy the air can be let out, the gas bottle re-fitted and the jacket packed away, again the servicing log has to be signed along with the label on the jacket. Its always interesting to see where some of these jackets have been and wonder what sort of shouts they've been out on before we got them.


Luckily tonight we didn't find too much wrong, just a cracked flare cap and a light that wouldn't turn off after testing. These were easily rectified and with the extra help that we had tonight all the jackets were done in just under 90 mins, not too bad at all. With that done and no more working Monday evenings this year (I won't make them do Xmas eve and New Year's eve!) we retired to the East Bar.

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)!

Scrap

I've mentioned before that old lifeboats are disposed of at the end of their life and often find their way into private ownership. We've just received a bulletin from headquarters offering for sale a number of 'x' & 'y' boats for sale. Basically these are small inflatable craft which are carried upon larger All Weather Lifeboats to enable access to rocky shores and perform transfers between larger vessels. These are all made by Avon and seem good value but not a bargain. It strikes me that the RNLI disposals team is very aware of what they are worth and are keen to maximise the return......perhaps they keep a close eye on eBay prices?

It's all Greek to me.......

So whilst we drive around in the finest lifeboats available anywhere in the world, out in Greece things are not quite the same. Nick's father-in-law has recently returned from Greece and brought this photo with him to share. It's simply superb. Minimalist lifesaving!

I heard recently that when Mother Theressa died the sum total of her possessions was a bucket and two Saris. It certainly makes you wonder how much is enough?

Still, I for one am happy that the RNLI has a policy of providing the best kit available at the time to allow it's crews to do the job as safely and well as possible. I know there are many mothers of lifeboat crew out there too who are glad that we have the best chance of surviving the worst conditions because we have the best kit available.

We got everything we need right here
And everything we need is enough.....

(Jack Johnson)

Essential Kit (Part III)

Of course without a pair of Binoculars any ship feels under equipped. The pair we carry are rather good and have a compass and light contained within them. Thus they can be used not only for watchkeeping but also for taking visual fixes to plot our position. Obviously in a big sea with flying spray they are of fairly limited use, however rare is the occasion that I have been on a shout and not used them at some point.

Essential Kit (part II)

Rather Pleasingly this photo shows me in action with my two favourite pieces of 'Essential Kit'. On this occasion the megaphone was being used to inform folk on the beach of our lifeboat day (I think). Perched on my head you can also spot my sunglasses. Now these may appear to be mere vanity, however, search for anything at sea on a sunny day for long and you will be mightily glad of a pair of polarising sunglasses. We are issued with a couple of pairs on the boat but I prefer to use my own. Here they are in action. (Thanks to Andy Lions for the photo).

And of course it
wouldn't be like me if
I didn't bring along -
Some sunglasses
mmm
to hide behind. Sunglasses
mmm
to cry behind.
Sunglasses
mmm
to die behind.
(Tracy Ullman)

Essential Kit (Part 1)

Loudhailer, megaphone, bullhorn. Call it what you will. For my money this is one of the most valuable, useful and versatile pieces of kit we carry. Sure, it's great fun to use it on an exercise to heckle crew whilst they are ashore or doing other stuff. However, it truly comes into it's own when working near the base of the cliff with people who have no direct comms with us. That's not to say that it's without it's faults. Turn the volume above 7 and it feeds back like a banshee. The best bit though is the little red button. Press this and the contraption emits and loud piercing wailing sound. Not sure why you'd want this but I love it!

Fiddlers Green

Have you ever wondered what happens to old lifeboats when they get replaced? In the case of Inshore Lifeboats they often get used for a period of time in the relief fleet or in the training fleet. In the case of our old 'D' class 'Phyll Clare', she went over to Poole to be used in the training fleet. As 'D' class bloats are the most plentiful in the fleet this is also the largest training fleet at Headquarters. The photo here shows them tied (extremely neatly I might say) alongside the pontoon ready for the next class. It certainly couldn't be said that they don't earn their keep. I guess that pound for pound they are the best value lifeboat in the fleet and provide for very cheap rescues.

As I walked by the dockside one evening so fair
To view the still waters and take the salt air,
I heard an old fisherman singing this song,
Won't you take me away boys, my time isn't long.
Chorus:
Wrap me up in my old oilskins and jumpers,
No more on the docks I'll be seen,
Just tell me old shipmates I'm taking a trip, mates,
And I'll see you someday in Fiddler's Green.
(John Connelly)

Gonna get myself connected

Crew on both the ILB and the ALB have Gecko protective helmets as part of their PPE. On the ILB these are worn at all times and on the ALB they are worn only at certain times (re-housing, boarding a casualty, in the 'x' boat). You might notice in the picture that the top 4 helmets have a wire sticking out of the back. These are the ILB Helmsmen's helmets and are wired up so they can hear what is being said by the radio operator while they are sat at the back of the boat next to the engine. This is an extra function which has been added to the new 'D' class (IB1) which wasn't present on the old one. These are a great pice of kit, many crew dislike wearing them however they are without doubt a lifesaver in certain circumstances.

If you make sure you're connected
The writing's on the wall
But if your mind's neglected
Stumble you might fall
(Stereo MC's)

Shh, don't tell anyone......

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!

Maintenance routine

A good maintenance routine starts with a thorough sort out after a launch. Before anything else can take place the messy tasks must be got out of the way. Here the boat is being refuelled.

Once that is out of the way she is given a thorough wash down with 'car-wash' and a sponge, inside an out. She is then hosed off.

Once this has been done she is hoisted up by the bow so that any water in her can drain out of the back. Then all of the kit stowages are opened so that they can dry out. Finally the battery is hooked up to a charger so that the batteries will be kept in tip-top condition.