Serious Fun

A year ago I was contacted to ask if I would help with filming a short piece about safe kayaking. This was for a series of short DVDs that the RNLI were filming for a new campaign called 'Serious Fun'. The wonderful Becky from Headquarters got in touch recently to let me know that the campaign has now gone live and that many of the films have footage of our station, our crew and indeed others in Swanage (see if you can spot them).

Here are a few details about the campaign:

The campaign is titled Serious Fun because we want everyone to go out on the water and enjoy their chosen watersports to the maximum, but we also want individuals to take their fun seriously by raising skill levels and staying safe. The campaign aims to engage with a wide range of sea users.

According to our rescue statistics, around half of all RNLI lifeboat launches tend to be to watersports related rescues, i.e., dinghys, yachts, motorboats, windsurfers, sea angling, dive boats, personal watercraft, kayaks, canoes, and kitesurfers. Each of these watersports groups needs to be addressed in a way that's relevant to them so we have produced a DVD as part of the Serious Fun campaign. Featuring 11 short films - each is dedicated to a different watersport and aimed at all levels of skill and experience - the DVD is full of practical tips from experts and action footage, this is also a film about the RNLI and how to support the charity.

We hope this campaign, with the help of the DVD, will prevent more accidents at sea, and save lives - that's what the RNLI is all about. We also hope that it will remind watersports users that they might one day need the RNLI, so we need their support too.

To find out more about Serious fun and to request your copy please visit www.rnli.org.uk/seriousfun

Unfortunately it doesn't seem possible to view each DVD online but it is free to order from the RNLI and is sponsored by Helly Hansen so I presume that ordering one doesn't cost the RNLLI anything.

Caught out

Yesterday was a busy day. At 12.45pm our pagers went off for the first time. 'Launch request Coastguard' was quickly followed by 'Launch ILB'. I kept driving to the boathouse, whatever the boat required we all turn up and help out where needed. By the time we arrived at the boathouse the situation had resolved itself; a dinghy in Studland bay which had capsized was now out of danger and the occupants were ashore. All's well that ends well.

At 2.15pm we were paged again. Again it was an ILB shout. This call was again caused by the strong SW wind. This time a member of the public had spotted a small grey inflatable dinghy with 3 people onboard drifting out to sea from the Northern end of Swanage Beach. The ILB quickly located the dinghy virtually back on the beach under The Pines Hotel. The 3 males onboard had had a hard paddle back to the shore against the wind and tide and had drifted a long way down the beach. The Lifeboat remained with the casualties until Swanage Coastguard arrived to give them some sea safety advice. With the situation now in hand the Lifeboat was released to return to station. Again, all's well that ends well.

There is though a lesson to be learnt from this. Both were situations caused by sunny conditions and strongish offshore winds. In these conditions it is ever so easy to underestimate the conditions. Standing on the beach one is sheltered from the full force of the wind by the cliffs, hence one thinks there is less wind than there really is. The enticing sparkles where the sun catches the sea look inviting from the beach but are, in reality, large white-capped waves. I've been there and made these mistakes so I know from first hand experience.......sunny days can catch you out. And please, don't presume that these were trivial shouts or a waste of our time.........people die in these exact same circumstances each year. Don't let it be you............Stay safe!