M'aidez

Pronounced 'May day', is a french term meaning 'Help me'. It is derived from the French verb 'aider' which means 'to help'. A mayday situation is one in which a vessel, aircraft, vehicle, or person is in grave and imminent danger and requires immediate assistance. In maritime terms (and they seem to be under threat from certain quarters) a call of MAYDAY triggers the highest possible level of response from those who hear it. Hence the urgency of our launch today.

And the thing is with Lifeboat shouts, they are never expected. Just when you think all is quiet and everything is going according to plan something turns up out of the blue.

The plan for this morning, as it happens, was to make a shedload of jam sandwiches for my younger daughter's 5th birthday party. As it happens, this wasn't to be. Just as I was reading Eve's (7 years old) book with her, our pagers went off, and I found myself racing down to the boathouse.


And it turned out it was one of those rather odd shouts where you are out there, but nobody seems to understand exactly why! A MAYDAY call had been heard on channel 16 VHF by various parties, yet no one had comms with the MAYDAY casualty and no one had a firm position. Consequently we (and Beowulf, a passaging lifeboat and rescue 106) spent a rather fruitless few hours stooging about the channel looking for something or nothing.



Gav, as usual, managed to make an art-form of stoicism as he helmed during our close-in search of the cliffs from Anvil point to Chapman's pool.

And, when all is said and done, all that we found was this forlorn looking packing case, floating on it's lonesome, about a mile South-East (135 degrees) of St. Alhelm's head.

Let's hope that it was a hoax...

Here's to us, one more toast, and then well pay the bill.
Deep inside, both of us, can feel the autumn chill.
Birds of passage, you and me,
We fly instinctively.
When the summers over and the dark clouds hide the sun.
Neither you nor I'm to blame, when all is said and done.
(When all is said and done - ABBA)

All quiet

Consistency round here seems to be a bit of an issue just now. There has been little in the way of shout action of late but most crew have been busy with all sorts of Carnival stuff.

We won the 'It's a knock Out' competition, Daz and Steve swan incredibly well in the 'Bay Swim', I understand that we won the 'Pub Gig Racing Challenge' too.

Anyway, despite all that it has been quiet here on the blog due in part to Liz being on holiday for a week and me wanting to spend plenty of time in the real world with her and the kids!

Anyway, Lifeboat week is fast approaching and there is an exercise this Wednesday so I will try and b more diligent over the coming weeks.

Watch this space.

Bay Swim

Yesterday evening was the Carnival Bay swim. We have a good number of crew taking part in the Triathlon again this year so a fair few of them were out for a training race on Monday evening.

Steve pulled a surprise performance out of the bag and swam terrifically.

Liz also swam well and enjoyed the race.

Becky was there to watch and organise but didn't actually get into the water (we noticed Becky)!

Dan was also there supporting with his partner.

And who can forget little Daz, our star performer. Well done mate.

Rain on your parade

We just got away with it yesterday. On what is normally a fabulously sunny day in Swanage, the weather for the Carnival Day Parade was actually pretty dreary yesterday. Still, everyone turned out just the same, and there was a very strong showing from the lifeboat contingent.

Charlotte was mischievous as ever and (encouraged by Deasy of course) decided to climb into the collecting flag!

The kids did a great job of flying the flag and collecting the pennies in the ILB.

For once the crew were pleased to be wearing yellows!


I’m gonna rain on your parade.
No, I won’t take it again.
And I’ll keep raining, raining, raining over you.
(Duffy - Rain on your Parade)

There's no 'I' in teamwork....

but it turns out there is in 'Pile on'!

Yesterday was the annual 'It's a knockout competition' at the Swanage Carnival. The usual healthy competition between the RNLI and Swanage and Wareham rugby club was taken to an altogether new level. One of the lifeboat crew was hospitalised but hey...we won!

It was the usual suspects so well done lads and lasses. A good show all round.

Team RNLI even managed to make walking the plank look simple.

On completion the whole gang headed to the boatpark and went out into the middle of the bay for another great display from the Red Arrows. We all agreed...it must be about as much fun as a chap can have with his clothes on (assuming of course that they were fully clothed)?!

Salvamento Maritimo

Having spent a week in Spain just recently sailing with my father it was inevitable that at some point we would bump into the local lifesavers somewhere along the line. Luckily this happened but not at sea!

In Camarinas, a small Galician fishing harbour slightly to the east of Cape Finisterre, my father and I happened upon the local Salvamento Maritimo vessel, a fully crewed and permanently on call lifeboat. Carlos, photographed here with my old man was the deck-hand and seemed very content with his job.

The vessel itself was a copy of a Norwegian Lifeboat and was impressive, featuring jet drives, twin Caterpillar engines, aluminium hull and no less that 3 sleeping cabins! It was carpeted throughout...including in the spotless engine room.

As you would expect, her crew of 3 full-timers (and no volunteers) keep her in a spotless condition.

Once we reached A Coruna we also had a chance to visit the tomb of General Sir John Moore. Those of you who know your history will recall that he died during the peninsular wars in the battle for A Coruna on the 16th January 1809. His death was immortalised by the words of poet Charles Woolfe. Locally Sir John Moore is remembered and celebrated as a hero and the English are held in high regard as a consequence.

The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna

Charles Wolfe. 1791–1823

Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,
As his corse to the rampart we hurried;
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot
O'er the grave where our hero we buried.

We buried him darkly at dead of night,
The sods with our bayonets turning,
By the struggling moonbeam's misty light
And the lanthorn dimly burning.

No useless coffin enclosed his breast,
Not in sheet or in shroud we wound him;
But he lay like a warrior taking his rest
With his martial cloak around him.

Few and short were the prayers we said,
And we spoke not a word of sorrow;
But we steadfastly gazed on the face that was dead,
And we bitterly thought of the morrow.

We thought, as we hollow'd his narrow bed
And smooth'd down his lonely pillow,
That the foe and the stranger would tread o'er his head,
And we far away on the billow!

Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that 's gone,
And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him—
But little he'll reck, if they let him sleep on
In the grave where a Briton has laid him.

But half of our heavy task was done
When the clock struck the hour for retiring;
And we heard the distant and random gun
That the foe was sullenly firing.

Slowly and sadly we laid him down,
From the field of his fame fresh and gory;
We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone,
But we left him alone with his glory.

Then it went bang

was how the skipper of today's casualty described what had happened to his engine. He was right to be worried that this was followed by a large amount of black smoke too. So he did the correct thing, left the engine room hatch shut and called the coastguard. They called us which was how my bike ride was interrupted and I ended up going on a shout wearing a full suit of lycra! Not pretty...

Anyway, it was a straight-forward job to rig up the tow and pull him back into the bay where he is now sitting on our mooring. Hopefully the damage is not too extensive and he can soon be back in business again.

Stepping up

Last night we were short handed on the exercise for a variety of reasons. This always makes for an interesting time as there can be no passengers and inevitably people end up performing the role above what they normally do.
Skid helmed the boat for the majority of the exercise using both the primary and emergency steering. And a great job he did too learning how to anchor the boat as well as everything else.

Sam got stuck into a variety of seamanship evolutions such as emergency steering and anchoring and demonstrated just what she is capable of.

Matt took charge of the deck as second Cox'n, his responsibility was to talk each evolution through then stand back and observe it happen. He is a natural teacher and has an innate ability to instill confident in those he is instructing.

JFL...one of our newest recruits, naturally took everything in his stride and showed all the signs of becoming a very useful member of the crew in short order.

Of course the ILB was out too under the command of Gav who is the duty helmsman this week. By all accounts they had a useful exercise too and learnt much.

Meanwhile James Mack, Shi and I were down below conducting a very productive navigational exercise.

I was following the pack
all swallowed in their coats
with scarves of red tied ’round their throats
to keep their little heads
from fallin’ in the snow
And I turned ’round and there you go
And, Michael, you would fall
and turn the white snow red as strawberries
in the summertime

(Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes)

Hanging in there...

For some reason the shore crew were all laughing when we arrived back from Sunday evening's shout. After a while I spotted why! I can see that I am going to have to start chaining up my 'un-stealable' shout bike up.

Needle in a Haystack

At around 18.45 this evening we were paged to go round towards Anvil Point lighthouse to search for a Dog which had fallen over the cliff. The weather has been pretty fresh for the last few days so it was no surprise to find that it was pretty lumpy around the back side of the cliffs.


On this sort of job our presence is primarily required in case the Coastguard Cliff team choose to go over the cliff edge to recover the casualty. In these sort of conditions there is little we can do for a dog as conditions were too rough at the base of the cliff to make it prudent to even attempt to put any men ashore (of course...had the casualty been a person things might have been different).


In the circumstances we saw nothing of the dog and after a very thorough search using Mk1 eyeballs and binoculars saw no sign of the poor animal.


So, once the cliff team had had a final look over the edge we returned home for a good washdown and then off home in the hope that the Sunday roast was in the oven still and not in the bin.

Approaching fast . . .

Lifeboat Week 2009 is now a little over 4 weeks away. Today we took delivery of our car/house/shop window stickers.

If you'd like one pop into the Lifeboat Shop in The Square, the Lifeboat Station or just download one from [ here ], print it out and pop it in your window.

What a relief

Today our ILB (D-613 'Jack Cleare') has gone off for refit. This used to happen every 18 months but after she's had this refit it will be extended to every 2 years.

The refits are carried out at the RNLI's Inshore Lifeboat Centre (ILC) in Cowes. If you're really lucky you might even see the refit happening on the new ILC webcams.

RNLI Depot Transport brought a relief boat (D-610 'Catterick') complete with pod and engine so that our boat can go back complete. This means that the electronics in the pod and the engine can all be serviced at the same time.

The refit is planned to take 2 to 3 weeks so hopefully Jack Cleare will be back in time for Lifeboat Week.

Both boats are out on exercise tonight so the crew will be giving the relief boat a run to make sure that she performs well.

Thanks to Kev & Gav for their help (and doughnuts!)

More new winch wire

Dave has been busy once more. He's just sent us all an e-mail to let us know that the ILB winch has just been fitted with a dynex rope the similar (but not purple & a lot smaller) to the ALB one. It is a lot more costly than the old steel ones but hopefully will last a long time as it won't corrode when it gets wet. Also it won't kink and should be a lot nicer to handle. It is also slightly longer which should help with low water recovery.

(Photo: Dave)

Busy but quiet

So it was a quiet lifeboating weekend. Though the weather was good, and there were plenty of people about on the water, they all managed to keep themselves safe and avoid calling upon our services.

Making good use of this lull a group of us took to the water on Sunday morning for a spot of wakeboarding/kneeboarding and waterskiing. And good it was too!
Nick got up first go on a wakeboard...well done mate


John Mono-skied and carved up some huge turns.


Dee was looking good and got some small air under her board.


And, doing her bit for the tourist board took in the sight of Tenacious which was visiting.


Daz was also looking good and getting some good air.

A fun morning, thanks John for the boat.

Both boats

Due to a rather busy day yesterday I failed to mention yesterday that both boats were busy on Wednesday afternoon with another shout. This time it was a yacht which had gone aground in slight seas just to the west of Chapman's Pool. Luckily for them it was a rising tide so the merest of pulls from the ILB soon brought them off into deeper water. Once there the bilges were checked by the skipper for water ingress before the vessel was declared fit to proceed on her passage to Weymouth. Once they were on their way both boats headed back to station. Job done.

One of the great things about shouts like this during the working week is that there are always crew out of town so lots of our less experienced crew get a shout. Good for experience and good for moral.

That reminds me....

Lifeboat week is coming up soon. We'd all love you to come so here is the up to date list of events to tempt you.

Sun 9th 10:00 - 16:00 Comp, Swanage Angling Club
Sun 9th 11:00 - 16:00 Lifeboat Fair, P.A.G.
Sun 9th 19:30 - 23:00 Shakespeare Production, P.A.G.
Mon 10th 19:00 - 21:00 VIP Boathouse Guided Tours (Tickets £10)
Tue 11th 17:30 - 19:00 Junior Race, Sailing Club
Wed 12th 10:00 - 16:00 Book Stall, Swanage Seafront
Wed 12th 19:00 - 21:00 VIP Boathouse Guided Tours (Tickets £10)
Wed 12th 20:00 - 23:00 Fun Quiz, Swanage Con Club
Thur 13th 18:00 - 21:00 Pilot Gig Race, Main Beach
Thur 13th 18:30 - 20:30 Senior Race, Sailing Club
Thur 13th 20:00 - 00:00 Beach Party, The Ship Inn
Fri 14th 10:00 - 15:00 Flag Day street collection
Fri 14th 18:00 - 23:00 Live Music, Bar & BBQ, P.A.G.
Sat 15th 11:00 - 17:00 Cream teas, music & stalls, P.A.G.
Sat 15th 12:00 - 16:00 Build a boat competition, P.A.G.
Sat 15th 16:00 - 17:00 Build a boat race, Stone Quay
Sat 15th 17:00 - 18:30 Raft race, Main Beach
Sat 15th 18:00 - 23:00 Live Music, Bar & BBQ, P.A.G.
Sun 16th 12:00 - 16:00 Cream teas, music & stalls, P.A.G.
Sun 16th 12:00 - 16:00 Lifeboat Festival, P.A.G.
Sun 16th 19:00 - 20:00 Lifeboat Service, Swanage Pier

Forgotten shout

In the rush to reach the weekend I completely forgot to add the details of last Friday's shout. The Alb was launched to got to the assistance of a 50' Fairline motor cruiser which thought they might have struck an underwater object and damaged their sterngear.
Here is a copy of the report from our station website:

The cruiser had earlier radioed in to say that they had lost drive on one engine possibly caused by hitting an underwater object. They were returning home on one engine when they started to smell burning coming from the engine room, there also seemed to be water in the bilges. Portland Coastguard immediately requested the launch of Swanage's All Weather Lifeboat and vessels in the area were asked to make their way to the cruiser. The lifeboat launched and headed to the casualty's position, 6Nm East of Durlston Head. The salvage pump was made ready just in case. Once on scene station mechanic, Dave Turnbull, was put aboard to assess the situation. He was able to confirm that the boat was taking in a small amount of water through the shaft seal due to catastrophic failure of the shaft coupling. A tow line was connected and the slow tow back to Poole commenced.
The speed was kept to 3 knots as the damaged shaft was overheating and could damage its seal further causing more water to leak in. Once outside Salterns Marina a crew from the yard came aboard and took the boat in tow so she could be lifted straight out of the water. The lifeboat was then free to return to Swanage.

(Photos are from the boats camera - photographer unknown)

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)

On the pull

We are all lifelong learners nowadays...at least that's what our government tells us. So last night practise got underway for this summers RNLI Gig racing challenge. Martin and Karina (Mrs Coxswain) took charge and introduced a select group of novice/beginner lifeboatcrew to the pleasures of Gig rowing. Actually, to be honest, Martin just sat there along with the rest of us and did exactly as he was told by Katrina. It quickly became clear that I was being given an opportunity to learn first hand from a veritable Yoda (this comparison does not apply in respect of Karina's looks, stature, posture or comlexion) of man management teaching...

One thing quickly became apparent. When Karina is in charge, she knows exactly what she wants doing, is very capable of putting those expectations across, and woe betide anyone who doesn't do as they are told!It was certainly a pleasure to witness Martin relegated to sitting up at the front of the boat with a rope in his hand.
He was even spotted doing a bit of manual labour.

And afterwards we enjoyed a very pleasant cup of tea at the pierhead courtesy of Jill (Ty's Mum).

All good fun...

Any one for croquet?

Since April twelve teams have been competing in the Swanage RNLI Croquet knockout competition. This is the third year that this event has been run as a fundraiser and it is once more proving to be very successful. Every Wednesday evening six Teams compete on the Lawns adjacent to the Cricket Club in North Swanage and go about the business of quietly raising money but also bringing people together who perhaps are not associated with the Lifeboats in any other way. Teams participating include a local Dental Practice, the Lions Club, a group called Probus, the table tennis club, some bowlers, a team from Swanage Sailing Club, a team from National Coastwatch Institute, Church Teams, a Swanage Hospital team, a group of Golfers and also individuals who have formed their own teams.

The knockout competition continues to late July or early August (weather dependent) when the final will be played and The RNLI trophy presented. The competition has proved to be an excellent and worthwhile event, with an superb atmosphere which ends with a drink and get together in the pleasant surroundings of the Cricket Club bar to round off the evening. By the way, the above photo provided by Robin shows our own team of Val, Ann, Sandra and Colin.

Well done to you all!

We've been quiet but.....

Lyme Regis Lifeboat and Portland Coastguard have been busy:

Not for the faint hearted!

It was a good exercise last night. Dan and Tom set up a fishing boat based scenario which involved 3 injured and 1 missing crewmembers. Both boats dealt with it and did a fair job of sorting out the difficulties.


Oli played the part of one of the injured crewmembers and had an arm which had been severed leading to a catastrophic and life-threatening bleed.


Daz also played one of the injured crewmembers and also had a nasty injury, this time an open fracture of one of his arms.

It is clear that we are not only getting better at dealing with these sorts of injuries...we are also getting much better at making the scenarios realistic! (Amazing what can be done with a bottle of ketchup)!

Fakery

Ian Brown, station officer of the Coastguard in Swanage was been having a few problems last week.

It turns out that an impostor, styling themselves as Swanage Coastguard, had opened a Twitter account and was posting defamatory, racist, homophobic and slanderous comments about members of the Coastguard and, I am led to believe, the Lifeboat crew. Now, bit of me thinks this is funny, however, not having seen the content I'm not really in a position to comment. However, it does remind one that anything written on the Internet which is public and criminal could essentially be used as evidence against you in a court of law.

It would seem that Ian has informed Dorset police about the contents of the Tweets and has asked them to investigate. It will be interesting to see what happens. It would certainly be worth this person remembering in future that nothing on the Internet is 'Anonymous' and that the same laws apply here as they do anywhere else in the media.

Silly...

Welcome Aboard...

Meet Paul Boissier (or to use his full title Vice Admiral Paul Boissier Royal navy), he has been named today as the successor to Andrew Freemantle as the Chief Executive officer (formerly known as the Director) of the RNLI. Like his predecessor, he has had a glittering and distinguished military career before being head-hunted to take up what must be perhaps one of the most prestigious jobs within the charitable sector. To quote the press release:

After more than 10 years’ service, Chief Executive Andrew Freemantle will be retiring in September. After a lengthy search, Chairman The Lord Boyce and the Trustees have now chosen his successor.

Following stiff competition for one of the charity sector’s most rewarding and prestigious jobs, the new Chief Executive will be Paul Boissier.

Paul, 55, who recently retired from the Royal Navy, says: ‘I have been absolutely bowled over by the sense of commitment, service, courage and energy that drives the RNLI and its people. It is one of the most valued and respected charities, doing a uniquely challenging job in a way that cannot be matched anywhere else in the world. It is a huge privilege to be asked to be the Chief Executive and I greatly look forward to taking up the appointment.’

Andrew Freemantle comments: ‘My warmest congratulations go to Paul Boissier on being selected for this marvellous job. I have no doubt that he will enjoy it as much as I have. For me, it has been an enriching experience to work for such a wonderful organisation. My very best wishes go to Paul and to everyone in the RNLI family, past and present, for even greater success in the future.’

After graduating in Mechanical Engineering at Cambridge University, Paul joined the Royal Navy, specialising in navigation. He served in and then commanded a variety of submarines, before moving to the surface fleet as Captain of an anti-submarine frigate.

At Portsmouth Naval Base, he was responsible for repairing and accommodating most of the Navy’s ships. As Chief Executive of the Naval Support Organisation in Bristol, he worked closely with a variety of industrial partners and managed the three naval dockyards. Paul spent his last 2½ years in the Royal Navy as Chief Operating Officer, integrating HR, support, training, logistics and procurement.

Paul has sailed extensively with his wife Susie in their boat Snow Goose. He has also written a book on the maritime rules of the road, and for 3 years was Commodore of the Royal Naval Sailing Association. He is a Younger Brother of Trinity House. Away from the sea, he enjoys travel, gardening and writing and bread making.

So it does indeed sound as if a worthy successor to Andrew Freemantle has been found. We look forwards to welcoming Paul over here in Swanage in the near future and wish him a fair wind when taking up his new job in September.

Pity the poor mechanic

After a shout or an exercise, the lifeboat is washed down by all present then, while the rest of the crew get off the boat, the mechanic must complete the remainder of his tasks...refuelling the boat, re-stocking any stores used, re-ordering anything which requires it, fixing anything which has been broken before being able to finish up. Sometimes this takes 10 minutes, sometimes several hours...by which time most of the rest of the crew have disappeared.

ILB helo

Last Sunday was an exercise morning and the Coastguard Helicopter was out for the exercise. Unusually they spent lots of time working with the ILB much to Gav's delight (he was the only helm).

Tonight is an Ops Team meeting...

And she'll have fun fun fun
til her daddy takes the t-bird away
(fun fun fun til her daddy takes the t-bird away)
(Beach boys)