At the going down of the sun...

In 1942 the New York Times said that 'even in peace-time the long coast of the British Isles is stormy and treacherous. In time of war...the work of the life-savers is a continuous test of skill and courage.'

Today we remember the soldiers, sailors and airmen who have taken part in armed conflicts for our defence. We might also remember the Lifeboatmen who put to sea to assist those who were in peril at sea during the dark years of the two world wars.

As an example, 19 lifeboats took part in the evacuation of British Soldiers from Dunkirk. Hundreds and perhaps thousands of men owed their lives to the brave acts of the heroic crews of the lifeboats. The Commander of the destroyer HMS Icarus said at the time, 'The magnificent behaviour of the crew of the Margate life-boat who, with no thought of rest, brought off load after load of soldiers from Dunkirk, under continuous shelling, bombing and aerial machine-gun fire, will be an inspiration to us as long as we live.'

In a typically British statement, the second in command of the small boats at Dunkirk said, 'I hope to have you (the lifeboat crews) with me at my next evacuation.'

We will remember them...

(Read 'Storm on the Waters' by Charles Vince)

Odin

Some things are hard to practise on your own. For example...towing. So today Rob brought Odin round from Poole to use as a casualty vessel for the mornings exercise. It was a blustery morning so conditions were pretty realistic and everybody got the chance to put into practise all of the theory.

The Rowing Clubs new gig 'Dancing Ledge' was also out there training. She is one of the new breed of GRP gigs and is being used purely as a training vessel. Smart hey?


Odin is an Ocean Dynamic Aluminium RIB belongs to the RNLI and has been used as a test bed for both FSB2 (Tamar) and FCB2.

Farewell and hello...

So our Chairman of four years, Sir Jock Slater, has today stood down (I'm assuming that this was planned)? We haven't seen much of him in Swanage but a quick browse on google shows that he has been pretty active visiting other stations around the coast. No doubt he has had to sit through more than his fair share of meetings too. So thanks very much Sir, we salute you...

He sent us this departing message:

As I stand down today after nine years as a trustee and over four years as chairman, I send my heartfelt thanks and good wishes to all members of the RNLI family - lifeboat men and women, lifeguards, those in front line support and those who raise the funds. I pay tribute to the permanent staff who keep the show on the road and to our thousands of volunteers without whom the RNLI would not exist.

I know that the Institution will go from strength to strength in the years ahead.

Keep up the good work!

Jock Slater

6th November 2008

He is superseded by another retired Naval Officer, Admiral the Lord Boyce GCB OBE DL. Oddly, he doesn't seem to have a first name, so we shall have to remain on more formal terms than we did with Sir Jock. Now this Admiral/Lord has had a seriously impressive Naval career, read his Biography:

Lord Boyce joined the Royal Navy in 1961. He commanded three submarines and the Submarine Sea Training Squadron and was also an Anti Submarine Warfare specialist. He commanded the frigate HMS BRILLIANT, was Director of the Naval Staff and Senior Naval Officer Middle East. He was promoted to the Flag List in 1991 and was subsequently Flag Officer Sea Training, Flag Officer Surface Flotilla, Commander in Chief Naval Home Command and Second Sea Lord and Commander in Chief Fleet. During this period he was knighted and also held a variety of senior NATO Commands. He became First Sea Lord in 1998, Chief of Defence Staff at the beginning of 2001 and retired in May 2003. He was elevated to the peerage in June 2003, and appointed Lord Warden and Admiral of the Cinque Port, and Constable of Dover Castle, in 2004. Lord Boyce is a keen sportsman, a Freeman of the City of London, an Elder Brother of Trinity House, and a Knight of St John and is involved in a number of charities, organisations and associations, which includes being President of St John Ambulance (London District), Trustee of National Maritime Museum, and Colonel Commandant of the Special Boat Service.

Judging from his current list of responsibilities he has a higher tolerance of meetings than I do! Baron Boyce...welcome.

Planning

There's no doubt that for John, Darren, Liz and I the Triathlon training was a high point of last year. So, it's now getting to that time of year when little is going on and our thoughts turn to adventurous ideas for the coming year. Nothing concrete has emerged yet but we have an inkling of a plan.....

So Mart asked...

What made you want to become involved with the lifeboat, and how did you become involved. Were you always boat crew, or did you start helping in other ways?

Well, the answer to the first question is in this picture really. I was brought up in a small fishing village in Yorkshire called Runswick bay. The village was a lifeboat village and all of us young lads were in awe of the boat and it's crew. Of course things change and at 4 a.m. on 1st July, 1978, we stood on the beach and watched the lifeboat put to sea for the last time. After 112 years service to fishermen, sailors and holidaymakers, the lifeboat era had come to an end. So for most of my childhood I remember the boathouse being used by the ex mechanic of the lifeboat, Bill Cole, as his fishing shed where he stored his boat Patricia and his David Brown tractor. However, I still wanted to be a lifeboatman and couldn't pass the boathouse without catching a wiff of its intoxicating smell and dreaming of what it would be like to put to sea on a stormy night in a lifeboat.

In due course the villagers decided that a local rescue facility was needed for the summer months and so the Runswick Bay Rescue Boat was born. This small rib was, and is still, housed in the old tractor shed adjacent to the old Lifeboat house. Amongst others, my father crewed this boat in the early days when home from sea, and indeed I too spent some time on the crew as a youngster. This came to an end however when I left home to go to sea.

And so, when I arrive in Swanage in 1999, it seemed obvious that I should show my face in the boathouse and see if it might be possible to join the crew. Luckily both Bonz (then Mechanic) and Chris Haw (then Cox'n) seemed to think that this was a reasonable proposition and the rest as they say...

Do you want to come?

Anonymous asked this question:

How do you choose which crew to take on each shout if more than needed turn up at the boathouse? Is it down to experience or a mix of the novices and the hardened crew?

Now there's a question! I think that it is one of those things which each station does differently and each method has it's advantages. For example:

One station I know in the north of the country runs a first come first served type system, as crew arrive they collect a tally from next to the door and the first 5 (plus mechanic and Cox'n) go on the shout. The problems with this are that you might end up with an experienced crew on a 'big' shout, it encourages speeding, the same people might always go because they live close or work close and it also encourages competitiveness amongst the crew.

Another station I know runs a sort of 'squash ladder' type arrangement. Once a crew member has done a shout they go to the bottom of the list and work their way up again. Scrupulously fair but again might mean that the boat might go with a poorly experienced crew.

I've even heard of stations which run a sort of on duty crew. For a week at a time they have a nominated crew and they are the guys who respond initially if there is a shout. Good, but again, you end up spreading your experience thinly and it does require crew to live and work nearby.

And us? Well, we run two systems, one for the ILB and one for the ALB.

On the ILB it is a case of first come first served, that is, the first helmsman through the door commands the boat and then the next two crew (or helmsmen) go too. The Helmsman has a right of veto though, so if there is a particular need for experience or skill he can stand crew down and nominate others.

On the ALB we use the crew list as our guide. This list is in order of experience and time on the crew. The top 6 (Cox'n, 2nd Cox'n, Mechanic, Deputy 2nd Cox'n and numbers 5 & 6) automatically climb onto the boat if they are there. Then, depending on whether any of them haven't arrived, what type of shout it is, experience of the remaining crew, who's been on a shout recently and whether he can remember their names, the Cox'n will fill up the remaining spaces from those stood at the bottom of the stairs. And generally this works well. It means that the first principle is that the boat will go with the most experienced crew. It means everyone gets a few shouts each season. It also means that the Cox'n may bring on less experienced crew over time. Of course, as with the other methods, it's not without flaws...life's not perfect, we can accept that!

Thomas Gray Silver medal

Remember our First Aid instructor, Paul Savage? Well, it turns out that he ought now to be known as 'the award winning First Aid instructor' - Paul Savage!

Paul's new style course has now been rolled out to other crews around the coast and is also being used on the (also awards winning) Sea-Survival course. By all accounts it is being very well received by those who attend (three of our crew; Daz, Sam and Ty were on the course last week).

Well done Paul on your Silver medal, no doubt there was also a cash prize which you will be sharing with your erstwhile guinea-pigs in due course?!

I seem to be having problems with photos today so I'll try again later.

We've got the decorators in

Our periodic boathouse upkeep and maintenance is now underway. We have a team of lads with us for about 4 weeks and they will mainly be repainting and touching up everything which is painted or varnished. At the moment the boathouse resembles a war zone with scaffolding, paint pots, ladders, tools, filler and undercoat everywhere. No doubt in time it will begin to look shiny and new again!

In the meantime we are treading carefully and taking care not to touch anything for fear of getting covered in paint.

Farewell trusty companion

After something like 9 years of trusty service at our sides, the life of our old pagers has come to an end. I believe that they had become obsolete, and thus, it was no longer possible to service them when they became damaged. For some time trials have been conducted to find a replacement. Finally, last night, our new pagers were revealed. And darned smart they are too. No doubt in time we will learn what all the buttons and fancy features do. For the meantime lets just hope that they beep when needed.

Doing a Wilson Pickett

So Richard also asked how hard it is to get out of bed in the early hours of a dark and cold winter's night. Not surprisingly it is a bit of a shock. One moment you are cuddled up safe and warm in the lee of bum island...the next you are struggling into reluctant clothing, trying not to wake everyone, find the car keys, find the car, go back and get the correct keys for that car etc, etc, etc. No doubt there are some for whom there is a temptation to stay there in bed and silence the pager. However, I think we all resist that temptation. Needless to say, it is generally on these sort of shouts where our services are most urgently required.

By the way. The photo is of B on an evening exercise. Imagine how rough he looks at 'oh my God it's early' o'clock!

Cropped

Thanks to Richard Bell for these questions:

Whats the weirdest situation/place that your pager has gone off (that's publishable)? How difficult is it to get up and out of bed in the early hours on a winters day?

Taking one at a time:

Probably the funniest time that my pager has gone off was mid haircut. At the time I had longer hair up top and cropped hair on the sides. My hairdresser had just cropped the sides very short as my pager went off. I ran out the door looking like some dodgy 1980's pop star with a really nasty step in my hair. I then spent about 4hours sat on the casualty vessel while we towed it getting some very funny looks. Annoyingly it was some days before I managed to go back and get the job finished!

Then there was the time I was 3/4 of the way through packing my weekly shopping at the till in the Co-Op. The checkout staff wasn't particularly impressed when I walked out leaving it all there for them to deal with.

There was also the occasion when I had a queue of a dozen parents waiting to see me at a parents evening at school. Not funny more awkward...

Bravo Zulu...

This message has just been left in the guestbook section of our website. I've said it before, we pretty rarely receive thanks like this but it is hugely appreciated when we do.

Message: Message to Gavin and the Crew who rescued us today off Harry Rocks in our 29ft Cruiser Esprit.

Guys just to say a huge thank you - we have just arrived home all safe and sound thanks to you. Dad, Harry (aged 79) has been released from hospital this evening having undergone many tests. Nothing conclusive except an irregular heartbeat which will be monitored together with his recently changed medication being looked into as they feel this could have been the cause of his illness today.

We feel totally indebted to you guys - you do an amazing job and cannot speak highly enough of what you did for us today. Having been boating in excess of 10 years we would never have expected to have to use your services -you were great.

We would like to make a donation to the RNLI and would appreciate you letting us know how to do so.

Thanks again - cannot stop saying thank you - it must also be mentioned that John the Operator was amazing he kept us in control of the situation until you arrived and gave us huge confidence for the safety of all.

Cheers again guys - sorry Gavin if we ruined your lunch!! not sure this is what we interrupted but if it was we owe you one.

Karen & Gary

By the way...I happen to know that it wasn't his lunch which Gav had interrupted!!

Mixed blessing

So the certificates for our recent first aid course arrived last week. Very exciting they are to. The only problem...they have John Deas' face on them!

Paul, if you'd only asked I have loads of much better photos from the course!

Coastal passage making

isn't always as straight forwards as it seems. Yesterday the ALB was called upon to assist a 28’ motor cruiser with 5 persons on board including an 89 year old man who had fallen and was suffering from seasickness. Portland were worried about the man’s condition and weren't able to get a clear position from the boat’s crew (possibly near Old Harry). They requested Swanage Coastguard, Rescue Helicopter 106 and Swanage Lifeboat to attend. Swanage Coastguard were soon at Old Harry and confirmed that a boat the Lifeboat was tracking on radar matched the vessel’s description.

Once alongside, Gav was put onboard to assess the man’s condition. After a comprehensive assessment he concluded that the best thing was for the man to remain on board and get picked up by paramedics at Sandbanks. Both boats set off via the East Looe channel and arrived at the landing steps about 20 minutes after first arriving on scene. The man was transferred to a waiting ambulance along with one of the motor boats crew. The remaining crew continued their passage and the ALB was released to return to station.

Thanks to the station website for most of the details here

Busy, busy

Andy asked the question:

How about where we fitted in in the statistics of launches/rescues for the first 6 months of the year compared with other stations around the country?

Well, to quote the RNLI: The statistics show that RNLI lifeboats rescued 630 people in the first six months of 2008, nine more than in the same period of 2007 while RNLI lifeguards went to the aid of 1,906 people, up over 400 from a year earlier. The busiest lifeboat station in the south west was Poole in Dorset and the next five busiest were all lifeboats based in Devon and Cornwall (Exmouth, Plymouth, Falmouth, Torbay and Appledore). In total RNLI lifeboats in the south west launched 675 times from January 1 to June 30 this year, little changed from 655 launches in the same period last year. Thanks Tamsin and Amy for that!

So where did we fit in? Well, this year we were 9th out of 35 stations for the period January to June with 29 launches in total. There were 16 ALB shouts and 13 ILB shouts with a total of 22 people rescued. In the same period in the previous year we were 11th with 25 shouts and again 22 people rescued. So we are busy but much less busy that some!

Slightly random photo of one of our local landmarks...anyone know where it is and anything of its history?

Heads

Regular reader Joan asked the question:

Hi John
2 questions, Is there a loo on the ALB?, and because you have advanced first aid skills, do they call on you at school to deal with incidents?
all the best to you and all the crew
Joan

The answer, on our class of lifeboat is that there are no 'Heads'. We operate a 'Bucket 'n' chuck it' system, which, most of the time works perfectly well. Of course, in very rough conditions or where we have been out for a very long time it can become a pretty unpleasant and messy business. Hand washing facilities are also somewhat lacking!

On larger ALBs (Severn, Tamar and Trent) there is a dedicated Heads and crews are treated to a far higher level of pampering and comfort. Perhaps our slogan should be, 'Real Lifeboatmen do it in a bucket on a Mersey'?!

Joan, thanks for the question...I'll come back to the second one later.

Lazy Sunday

Oops, I thought I had posted these yesterday evening...turns out I hadn't!



Tom and I spent the wee early hours hauling a few of his new pots from his new inshore fishing boat.

As we came ashore we were snapped by Mark Rainsley.

After tea and bacon sarnies at ours he headed out to take some snaps of the ALB on exercise.



Even in a reasonably moderate sea the ALB looked pretty impressive and Mark's photos do it full justice.



Here she is mid turn with a few crew on the afterdeck.

Younger brother

Inexplicably I arrived home this evening to find the latest Land Rover Defender brochure waiting for me on the doormat. Naturally, as a poor teacher, I find myself in no position to buy one of these things (my own Landy will be 33 this year) however, I couldn't resist a quick browse.

And I have to say, the overall quality of the presentation was excellent, but best of all was this shot on page 10. It shows a Defender 110 in the process of launching not just any ILB but the younger brother of our boat the 'Jack Cleare' (D-613).

Now I suspect that the photo is purely a publicity shot and D-614 isn't an actual lifeboat on station but rather a relief lifeboat. Indeed, the Land Rover shown isn't an RNLI one...it is missing the white roof, blue lights in the grill, steel wheels and of course all of the stickering. As ever,I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong in this web of assumptions.

Just talk...

Here's a chance for you to just talk. Not about something I've written just about things that you'd like to know. The Inshore Lifeboat First Aid kit, perhaps. How to go about visiting the boathouse, if you like. Whatever, just ask by leaving a comment.

To be honest I'm sometimes struggling to remember exactly what I have and haven't written about in the past so feel that there may well be large gaps in what I have told you about our boats and crew. So, feel free to: ask questions, answer questions or make comments.

Somebody hurry up and be the first to say or ask something!

Let's talk. Let's have fun. Let's discuss out how to save lives at sea....

Virtually life

This mornings 'pause for thought' on radio 2 touched on the theme of our virtual lives and questioned whether we were in danger of putting too much store in our virtual 'on-line' lives at the expense of our very real 'off-line' lives. Of course the answer is all in balance...gaining a sufficiency but knowing when to stop. Like most things in life I guess?

Coincidentally I received an e-mail this morning from Nigel Saxon (e-media manager for the RNLI) confirming that it was indeed Rob driving the Tamar in the YouTube clip yesterday and pointing out that there are many more online with our crew taking starring roles! Try this one:



He also let me know that he is working on completing a new RNLI application for Facebook. If I remember rightly the idea is that you create a virtual crew using your Facebook friends. It sounds very exciting and will no doubt be a great way of engaging with young people. More details when Nigel lets me have them...