Stag do...

Here's the video from the ILB headcam worn by our very own Oli last night.

Thanks to Dave T for editing it.

Super Sunday

Through the winter we are exercising every Wednesday night in the dark so once a month (the first) we go out on a Sunday morning so we can experience being at sea in the daylight. Except, this morning everyone was engaged doing other things elsewhere so there were too few crew present to make it worth launching the ALB.

Still, the ILB went out and Gav, Oli and Sam had a good trip by the looks of it.

Being on my own with the girls this weekend I was late down and arrived just as they got back in and were in the process of washing down their kit.

Somehow Gav (helmsman) got left with washing the boat off...clearly he has failed to educate the youth fully!

Meanwhile, Deasy and Daz were busy taking part in a local duathlon over in Rempstone forest.

I nipped over there on the way to get our Christmas tree and caught some of the action, needless to say it was a hot, sweaty and muddy activity though it seemed to be being enjoyed by all who took part. Well done lads!

We did enough to save his life

was the conclusion of how we treated last nights severely injured casualty.

We launched at 7pm tasked to conduct a search from Ballard Point to the Grand hotel looking for a man who had apparently fallen down the cliff. The ILB started at the Grand and the ALB at Ballard point, conditions at the base of the cliff were slight so our search was good and close to the shore and in short order the ILB spotted our man. 2 crewmen were put ashore (Matt and Oli) so as to assess his injuries and stabilise him ready for evacuation. It quickly became apparent that his injuries were extensive (large open leg fracture, open arm fracture, spinal injury and extensive abdominal bruising) and his condition deteriorating rapidly.

2 further men were sent ashore form the ALB via the ILB with stretcher, oxygen and large first aid kit. Once a collar was put on he was transferred to the basket stretcher and brought out to the ALB for transfer back to the slipway to meet the ambulance. The transfer went smoothly and he was soon in the wheelhouse having his wounds dressed and immobilised.

Meanwhile, in a dramatic twist, Martin (Coxswain) began to complain of feeling unwell. Within a few short minutes his condition deteriorated to the point where we realised it might be something more than originally thought. Chad and I joined later by Kev attended to him. It quickly became obvious that he was suffering from some sort of non-traumatic chest condition (heart attack) so we treated what we saw (clammy forehead, severe vice like chest-pain, sat in a 'W' position, unresponsive and shallow breathing) by first of all running through an AMPLE assessment then giving GTN spray, an asprin and free-flow oxygen. It would be an exaggeration to say that he recovered but his deterioration was certainly halted. Thank goodness!

Once we returned to the slipway, both casualties were handed over to Dorset Ambulance staff and after re-housing both boats and stowing kit we headed up into the crewroom for a de-brief at the hands of Paul Savage and the new RNLI First Aid trainer - Vicky Tomalin.

Overall their observations were very positive and they were of the conclusion that we had achieved what we set out to do...save life. A good exercise.

having a few photo issues which I will try and rectify later on

Festive exercise

Last nights exercise was a pretty cold affair. Nevertheless a large number of crew turned out and the time was spent well in both the ILB and the ALB.



Dave has been re-organising the deck-lockers where we stow all of the various ropes and lines on the boat. He briefed the crew on the new stowages and the reasoning behind each move.



The ILB went off an did it's own stuff for the most part. This included us putting 'Dead Fred' out to sea for them to find him. This they did easily and quickly.



We even had our own Christmas decorations on deck.



Down in the wheelhouse Gav, Tom and Steve spent time creating routes and setting up search patterns.



Meanwhile I was up on the USP with Oli doing some boat handling and driving. Very good he was too.

Apologies to Steve for the photos...

Then afterwards we had a crew-meeting. Nothing exciting to report except that the crew took the decision to buy a Nintendo Wii (whatever one of those is) for the crewroom. I've no idea why a chap would require anything other than a back copy of the 'Lifeboat Enthusiasts' newsletter or 'Land Rover Owners' magazine in order to while away the time. There you go, perhaps I'm getting old.

Ballard Point

Lies directly to the north of our Lifeboat station. At about 7.40 last night a rambler fell a small distance onto the rocks there and fell unconscious. The Coastguard rescue team were sent to locate him and this they did with the assistance of the Swanage Sea Rowing Club gig which was over there a the time. It was decided that a lifeboat would be of assistance so we were paged and arrived on-scene pretty quickly. First Aid was rendered and the patient prepared for a Helicopter lift. Once aboard the helicopter he was taken directly to Dorchester A&E where he had a brain scan and was declared fine.

Crew on the ILB in this occasion were Kev, Dan and Oli. It was reported in the Bournemouth Echo this morning.

Change of scenery

Yesterday morning both boats went to sea for exercise. For a change I took the ILB to sea as Helmsman and took Ollie and Chad along with me. It is essential that I do this every now and then as there are odd occasions when I am required to take the ILB out on a shout.



Chad demonstrated to Ollie how the chart plotter works then Ollie set up a route for me to follow. Once we arrived 'on scene' Ollie then talked me through all of the stowages on the boat to remind me of what we carry on the ILB and where everything is stowed. He was particularly good at explaining each of the various uses of each piece of equipment. He then explained to me each of the ways of recovering a person from the water and demonstrated on me!

Chad then talked us through anchoring and veering in to the cliff, they briefly put me ashore then used the throwing line to recover me from the cliff.



We then briefly went to check on the puffins and took Paul off the ALB to come into on of the caves to get this photo.



On the way home we practised some slow speed transfers with the Mersey. This is a great technique which almost seems to lock the two boats together making transfers of casualties and personnel far simpler.

Then it was back to the boathouse for a washdown and debrief. A good mornings work, and I certainly now feel as if I know my way around the boat as well as I should. Thanks lads!

Dexter

On the whole I try not to mention casualties by name so as not to embarass them. On this occasion it probably doesn't matter if I do. Shortly after 1 this afternoon the ILB was asked to launch by Portland to retrieve a dog (Dexter)which had fallen down the cliff near Old Harry. As is so often the case he was basically fine. In fact, so fine that he got up and swam out to the ILB! If only people bounced as well. Kev, Oli and Ant were back on the slip shortly after they handed Dexter over to his relieved owners at Middle Beach in Studland.

Salvage pump

As part of yesterday's exercise Martin wanted Nick and Oli to spend the time dealing with a scenario based around a search for a water-logged boat. The starting point was getting the 'x-boat' rigged, into the water then using the salvage pump to fill it with water. Although this was only meant to be setting up the exercise it proved to be a significant task in itself!First Oli tried to untangle the hose.Then Nick tried to prime it with water.Then Oli tried to get the pump to start. Then he tried again with the fuel turned on!Then they sprayed water into the dinghy until it was quite full.'Dead fred' didn't look too happy......never does.

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.

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.

What's a guy like you, doing in a place like this?

The question that I most frequently get asked about the lifeboat is:

"What made you want to join the crew?"

My reason for joining was that I was inspired by the work that the lifeboat crews do, I love and respect the sea, but I'm not afraid of it. I guess I wanted to offer what I could.

Everyone has different reasons for joining, I questioned a few of the guys and here are their reasons in their own words:

Dave "My Dad was on the crew and he asked me if I wanted to join, the station was just about to get its first D class, so they needed a few extra crew, I was one of eight new crew that joined at the time. "

Matt "My Dad was a member of the crew when I was born, I was christened on the old lifeboat the Rother with my cousins James and Gary, I basically grew up at the boat house.. I guess it was inevitable."

Kev "I used to be a volunteer lifeguard at Studland beach, one day we had a serious incident, the lifeboat, coastguard and helicopter were all involved. After that I had a chat with one of the lifeboat team who said I'd make a good crew member and that's what made me decide to join."

Steve "I had a chat with with one of the DLAs and he asked me whether my wife would be interested in joining the crew, I said that she might be but i wasn't sure, I told them that I was definitely interested in joining the crew myself." (Steve's wife decided not to join the crew)

Ollie "My dad was rescued by the lifeboat when he was out sailing and his mast snapped. I go sailing a lot and i know that if I got into trouble I'd want someone to rescue me, so I decided I'd do my bit for others who might find themselves in a tricky situation."

So there you have it a quick insight.....We all come from different walks of life but the lifeboat brings us together. It is my opinion that being involved with the lifeboat is something that you do because it is part of you, you can't force it if it's not.

Mechanical Monday

Each Monday evening all of our crew who are trained as mechanics on either the ILB or the ALB spend a few hours at the Boathouse working through some planned or routine maintenance. This involves pumping up the ILB, ensuring the fuel tanks are topped off, cleaning, repairing and of course, doing any jobs which Dave is not able to complete during the week due to only having two pairs of hands. Last night was especially busy as D651, the trials ILB, had also been out to sea.Here the ILB mechanics are busy fettling. Jon is lubing the engine and changing the fuel filter, Becky checks the first aid kit, Paul B and Kev are sorting the ropes in stowages and Oli is checking the Oxygen bottle and masks.Meanwhile on the Mersey Dave and Paul E have found a defect from the re-fit, one of the engine room bilge sensors has fallen apart due to a cracked length of pipe. Not a show stopper as there are several more bilge sensors in the space but still needs sorting soon.

Afterwards it was a quick pint and pack of crisps in the East bar.........

Not Under Command

Last night was the last of the shore based exercises. It was the final chance for Jo, Becky, Ollie, Nick and Mark to swot up on their IRPCS before their assessment in a weeks time. To be honest it is a tough nut to crack, particularly when you get to lights, shapes and sound signals. Even with Rob's impressive teaching style and some input from me I thought I detected the odd glazed look by the end? Still, the carrot was there..........Stuart, landlord of the Anchor, has agreed to lay on Chips and Sandwiches after evening exercises. What a gent. Sadly this does then require us to sample some of his fine ale (try the broadside)!

Comings and goings

There was a shore based exercise last night at the boathouse going over some first aid type stuff. I wasn't there but met up with the gang in the Anchor afterwards so as to have a brief meeting with Becky about lifeboat week. Needless to say this didn't happen......or if it did our conclusions are lost. Nevertheless, the gang was on top form and provided excellent entertainment. Jon Deas was being his usual quite and retiring self. However, he did come up with the most excellent nick-name for our two latest recruits, 'Laurel & Hardy'. Poor Nick and Ollie are still trying to work out who is who but I am sure it will stick.Jo was also there last night, always up for an impromptu party and full of fun and mild amounts of madness (think cat on a windy day).Congratulations to Ant Corben who has just this week finished his probationary year and is now a fully fledged crewmember. He has a very large pair of lifeboating wellies to fill but I am certain he will do this with panache and style.....welcome aboard!

Who killed Bambi?

Look carefully in this picture and you can see a small Sika Deer being persuaded to get into our 'Ambulance Pouch' (polite name for a body bag/folding stretcher). Such is the diversity of lifeboat work, this is what our ILB crew found themselves doing on Saturday afternoon.

Now this is not what lifeboats are generally intended to be used for. However.......as a crew we like to help in these situations. Being a fairly helpful bunch we feel that if we can help alleviate suffering in animals then we are keen to do so. The added bonus is that it also saves members of the public 'having a go' and getting injured or even dead as so often can happen.

Furthermore, Phyll Clare, the benefactor who donated our boat in memory of her late husband, is also a keen animal lover and we know that she loves it when we help animals out.........naturally we like to keep her happy.

Here Ollie, Becky and Chad are moving into position to round her up.

Spot the Bambi!

Gentle pretty thing
Who only had one spring
You bravely faced the world
Ready for anything
I'm happy that you lived
For your life is mine
What have I except to cry
Spirit never die
Birds of the air
Beasts of the earth
Overjoyed at Bambi's birth they gambolled in the glade
(The Sex Pistols)

5.30 on a sunny evening

The crew are starting to get hungry, three nights in a row we have had a shout at about 5.30!

Yesterday evening I was just on my way home from a spot of fishing and was about to put our Easter leg of lamb in to roast when my pager went off.

Once again it was the old story of early season engine gremlins and floating ropes which were the culprits. A 28 foot motor boat had broken down and was being towed by another passing vessel. Unfortunately the tide was too strong for them to make any headway. Once we arrived on scene off Durlston head we quickly set up the tow and began the tow back to Swanage. Fortunately for the casualty which was out of Poole, Poole lifeboat were just concluding another rescue in the harbour and were able to come towards Old Harry to take over the tow from us and return the casualty to their home marina.

Once again, no lives saved as such but still a very valuable shout; Three of the 4 man crew of the motor boat were beginning to get cold and would have been in more serious difficulty within a few hours. No doubt in my mind that it is better to extract folk from their predicament before it becomes worse.

From a crew training perspective these shouts are very valuable. Yesterday we took a core crew of 6 to sea and then also Nick and Oli who are very recent crew members. For them it was their first shout (well done lads..........I'm looking forward to that beer) and in very controlled and relatively easy conditions. This allows them to put into practise the lessons of recent exercises and build confidence not only in our capability but also theirs.