Lost and found

So last night was an inspectors exercise. We had the pleasure of going to sea with a very full boat which included our Divisional Inspector Adrian Carey and a colleague who is on the crew of a lifeboat on the North Island of New Zealand. He has recently won their award for volunteer of the year and has been rewarded with a trip to the UK to spend some time with the RNLI to see how we do things over here. Judging by our brief conversation, he has been mightily impressed by all that he has seen.

As part of the exercise we put in our 'special marker buoy' at the start of the exercise and then searched for it at the end. In fact we found it pretty easily and then re-deployed it for the final half hour of the exercise so that we could have another look once it had got dark. Worryingly we then struggled to find it! Once we had recovered it, it turned out that the lifejacket light on the top of it had malfunctioned. Indeed the only way we found it was by a brief flash in the dark as one of the search lights caught some of the 'retro-reflective' tape and made a flash. For me it highlighted the value of 'retro-tape' and demonstrated just how effective it can be in helping searchers to locate their caualty.

All good...

21 not out

Last night's exercise was a good one. Plenty of crew turned out, perhaps it was just curiosity and wanting to meet Adrian Carey our new inspector. Anyway, it was good to see almost everyone there. It was a busy night too. The ILB had it's inspection then went to sea for a further exercise. The ALB had it's exercise and was put through the whole fire, flood and pestilence routine. Meanwhile back in the boathouse Steve was busy giving a masterclass on various aspects of navigation and chartwork. Good busy stuff.



Afterwards Adrian introduced himself to those who hadn't been afloat, gave a short de-brief and then suggested that we all retire to the Ship for a chance to reflect upon the evening's activities.



Of course he also wanted us to turn up in the pub so that we could have a chance to present Jon Deare, our Head Launcher and Winchman, with his badge for 20 years of service to the RNLI. In actual fact he has now done 21 years service and we hope that he will make it at least to 25 if not a little further. As a bit of background, Jon is at the moment our oldest serving crewmember and as such commands a great deal of respect amongst all of the crew. A man of relatively few words he is able to keep the crew in order whilst the boat is away with little more than an arch of an eyebrow or a couple of well chosen words. He also presents on an annual basis the crew 'Rosebowl'. This was purchased in memory of his father with the un-drunk remains of his estate and is presented to the crewmember who has that year made the greatest single contribution (this could be an act of selflessness, bravery, comedy or idiocy). Jon, thanks for all you do...it's great to have you around.



So that was it. A good evening with much achieved. The inspection continues today with Dave being subjected to scrutiny ashore in the boathouse. Good luck!

Busy week

This week promises to be a busy one for the crew and Dave in particular. On Tuesday evening our inspector will be with us and will put us through our paces on shore and at sea. Prior to that he, and his team, will be having a good look round the station to make sure that everything is as it should be. No doubt everything will be in order but still, Dave will be working extra hard to put a polish and shine on all things.

ILB helm this week is Gav, DLA is Neil. The next planned launch will be on Tuesday at 7pm with the inspector on board.

Visitors

It was exercise night last night and visitors were everywhere. Now that the school holidays have begun our every movement will be watched eagerly by expectant crowds such as these.

We also had a group of staff from HQ in Poole over for a visit. Andy White (oe of our old inspectors now running the 'Train One Save Many' campaign) had brought them over so that they could get a flavour of what goes on during a training night and how we approach training up new crewmembers.

Martin took the Mersey to sea with half of them aboard and let them get their hands on the various controls.

Meanwhile back in the boathouse I did a little bit of shore based training with the other half (knots, throwing a heaving line, a bit of chartwork and a Q&A session). I have to say that I really enjoy this sort of visit. Most of us here on the coast understand that without the support of everyone at HQ we would be unable to do our job. I think that for them it is a great chance to dispel some myths and clear up any misconceptions (one lady was astonished to see the large stack of letters we have recently got from people we have rescued).

Needless to say, once the boat was on the slip, washed down and in the boathouse it was of to the ship for a quick half...

I completely forgot

to congratulate Matt on successfully passing his assesment as an emergency mechanic on the Mersey last time the inspector was with us.

He reminded me last night and looked genuinely hurt!

No offence intended Matt and here's a big up!!

TDI

Thanks to Dave Corben for this smashing photo of our launch yesterday. Those of you with sharp eyesight will notice that the slender fella on the starboard quarter is wearing a drysuit rather than the normal ALB foulweather gear. In fact it's not one of our crew but is Tom Mansell, one of our divisional inspection staff. It is normal that when the inspecting staff are on the station they accompany the crew on any shouts that occur. This allows them to get a more realistic insight into how we operate as a crew than by merely coming on exercise with us. Incidentally since Howard's promotion into the 'ivory tower' Tom has been promoted into Howie's old job (at least I think it was a promotion). Well done Sir!

We all stand together

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!

Win or lose, sink or swim
One thing is certain well never give in
Side by side, hand in hand
We all stand together
Play the game, fight the fight
But whats the point on a beautiful night?
Arm in arm, hand in hand
We all stand together
(Paul McCartney)