Mind your head

Today has been a pretty quiet day at the lifeboat station, other than Neil our LOM arriving with 30 bottles of wine! Every Christmas Mrs Phyl Cleare gives each of the crew a bottle of wine. Mrs Cleare is the lady who bought us our first D Class, Phyl Clare II, along with her late husband, Jack. She also bought our current D Class and it is named Jack Cleare in his memory. Thanks Phyl and Happy Christmas from all at the station.

I was also expecting my line manager, Dave Page (Divisional Engineer/South) to come and visit today for one of our P&D (Performance & Development) meetings but he suffered a blow out in the outside lane of a dual carriageway on his way up from Cornwall and he needed to return home to steady his nerves and possibly change his trousers! Anyway this gave me a chance to get a few things done at the station.

Over the years the RNLI has had various different types of helmets ranging from bump caps to motorcycle helmets. More recently though we have been using helmets produced by Gecko Headgear. These started off as the Mk8, then the Mk9 and most recently the Mk10 (left to right Mk8, Mk9, Mk10)

At first glance they look pretty similar but they are very different. The Mk8 was available in XS, S, M, L, XL and XXL and as a result everyone had to have one of their own that was the right size. They were also pretty uncomfortable and I never really had one that fitted me properly. The Mk9 was a great improvement, there were 2 sizes, Small and Normal. A correct fit was achieved by fitting different thickness pads into the helmet, 3 different thicknesses were provided and within 5 minutes you had a pretty comfortable fit. The drawback was though that you still needed one each.

The introduction of the Mk10 though changed all of this. It is fitted with an inflatable liner that moulds to your head, simply opening a valve on the end of a tube allows the wearer to adjust the fit. This means that there is no need for people to have helmets of their own as they can be adjusted to fit very quickly.

As I was going to have to order 5 new helmets for newly enrolled crew at a cost of £160 each it seemed like an excellent time to rationalise the helmets at the station. Previously some crew have had 2 helmets, 1 for the ALB, 1 for the ILB this was due to the fact that they are stored in totally seperate places and ILB helms had intercom wires that just get in the way if you're not plugged in. So after talking with Martin the Coxswain and our Divisional Inspector we decided to change the system completely. We decided to put 8 helmets aboard the ALB, 6 in the ILB shed and 3 for the ALB shore crew. This meant that we could send 9 helmets to another station in our Division and send the remainder back to Poole for re-allocation although its unlikely that the Mk8 helmets will be re-issued as they are pretty much at the end of their working life now.

Ensuring that the money people give us is put to best use can be a bit tricky but in this case its just a case of using your head!

Look out for tomorrow's post . . its someone's birthday . . someone who has a blog but currently is not in control of it . . someone who is going to be nearer 40 than 30 . . I'm saying no more!

PIRS

One of the particularly enjoyable parts of blogging is receiving comments from people. I know that many people read this daily but sometimes it can be rather like working in a void.........you talk lots but get no response! So I was delighted last night to get a comment from the legendary Dr Douglas Wilcox; sea kayaking photography guru. He had read the post about capsizing 'D' class lifeboats and had a few questions. I'll try to answer them:

Douglas noted that capsizing at night sounds horrendous. I wouldn't know, I've never done it, and hope it never happens, but he's quite probably right. It's pretty disorientating to be under a capsized boat by day, I can only imagine it would be worse at night. The already small space between the upturned hull and the sea becomes more confined as the padded mat falls from the floor onto your heads. You struggle to find the handheld, flares and rope in the dark confined space. Yep, I think you're spot on Douglas...........horrendous by night! Incidentally, in the new wave pool at the training college in Poole, crews can practise this in a simulated environment which has darkness, waves, thunder, lightening, wind, rain and cold. It's so realistic that many people get seriously sea-sick in there. Wenley has posted a 'youtube' film on his blog which gives you an idea of what this might be like, have a look here.

Douglas also asked about the procedure for restarting the engine. To be honest it is surprisingly reliable and simple, just time consuming. The system is different for the old 40hp mariner engines on 'D'class boats and the 50 hp on the new IB1s.

On the older 40hp the instructions are on the inside of the engine lid, they read: Step 1, remove lid! There then follows a sequence (which I can't remember) involving removing the plugs, pulling the engine over by hand, replacing the plugs with new ones, pulling it over some more, then trying to re-start it. Generally it works.

On the IB1 the 50 hp is fitted with a 'PIRS' (post inversion recovery system), this simplifies things. Again, I honestly don't remember the system but think it involves pulling out a lever, removing the fuel lead, turning it over (using battery) for a while, replacing fuel lead and trying to start it. This always works. I can't remember if the plugs need replacing but I suspect they might.

As for Douglas's question about how many capsize, I'm afraid I don't know but I will try to find out. I suspect that it is not that many as there is an upper operating limit for the 'D'class. I also have a feeling that as many happen in training as on shouts. I would imagine that most happen in surf and not in horrendous rough weather. I will try to clear this one up............

I guessed that Dave our mechanic might have read this and had something to add, he's now done this so for extra details read the comments below. He's right too, it's a long time now since I've been in our IB1, I will find an opportunity to rectify this soon.

They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old

When the war was declared on the 3rd September 1939, the lifeboat service was 115 years old and had just experienced it's busiest year yet. The men who manned its fleet knew the dangers of the coast and sea in time of peace, as these were the perils of their work.

It is the tradition of the service that if there is not one man to do the job there will be another. As the young crews headed off to war their place was taken by the old and the very young. In Whitby one morning an fighter crashed into the sea, the regular crew were not their so the boat launched with a Coxswain of 71, second Cox of 60 and a crew of five boys aged 16. 20 minutes later 4 airmen were rescued from the sea. And this was the story of the boats around the coast.

I don't know how many times the boats launched during the war, how many were saved, or how many crew went to war never to return. But I do know this. They persevered and continued to follow their calling despite the dangers and are an example to us all. To quote the the Admiralty:

Without fear or thought of self, the lifeboatmen have never spared their strength and skill in helping brother sailors in distress from the dangers of the sea and the violence of the enemy.

We will remember them..........

It had to be you.......

Martin as you know is our Coxswain. Rob is our principle Second Coxswain, Martin's right hand man if you like. In their absence it falls to Dave (Mechanic)and I to take the boat to sea. On Monday night Martin was out walking his dogs and Rob was out of town so Dave acted as Coxswain and I as his second Cox.

The majority of the responsibility is fairly easy to deal with. However, without doubt, the hardest part is picking which crew are going to fill the vacant spaces on the boat. On Monday night with Martin and Rob away we had 3 gaps and Dave (he was pretending to be busy with the engines) asked me to pick from the assembled crew at the bottom of the stairs. Now I made the fatal error of looking at them.........8 pairs of puppy dog eyes staring up at me, each set pleading 'pick me, pick me'! In a flash I realised that this is an almost impossible decision to make. In the end I made the choice of a mix of experience (Ron) and youth (Matt). The others unfortunately had to be content to work on the slipway and do whatever needed doing in the boathouse. Thankless but necessary.

Of our casualty nothing has yet been heard. No reports have come back to us of her being found but equally no reports have been received of any missing persons. Our thoughts remain with her and we pray that this will have a happy outcome.

It had to be you
It had to be you
I wandered around and finally found
The somebody who
(Gus Kahn and Isham Jones)

Silly season?

In a way the weather has been unseasonably good. This often leads to a dramatic increase in the number of shouts we are called on (we could hardly be quieter!) We often refer to this as the 'Silly Season' for a number of reasons: there seems to be more silly people around doing silly things in silly craft, and also our workload can get a bit silly.

The story often goes a bit like this: Dennis arrives in boatpark with crappy car, crappy boat and crappy engine. At the twentieth attempt Dennis manages to reverse said ensemble into the sea. He then spends at least half an hour trying to start the engine, this usually involves taking it to pieces. The minute the engine starts Dennis heads straight out to sea in a cloud of smoke with no lifejackets, little fuel and his entire extended family. Half an hour later our pagers go off.......! (This is an entirely true story but to save humiliating people some of the names, details and events have been changed).

Thankfully the RNLI has chosen to be pro-active in halting this sort of nonsense with their superb sea-safety campaign. I wish them every success.

Gaining experience

As with most things, training a lifeboat crewmember is never a completed job. Rather it is a continuing journey in search of new knowledge and skills. Each step makes you more useful and effective but in a sense you never arrive at that ultimate.....the fully trained lifeboat crewmember.

At Swanage, like most other stations, we believe that the best training comes from a mix of training and experience. With this in mind, we try to take a handful of less experienced crewmembers on each ALB shout. This gives them a flavour of what it is like and allows them to hone their skills and knowledge in a more realistic environment.

The picture here shows Chad and Matt relaxing on the after rail as we recover. Nothing was demanded of them this time but they were there, part of the team.

Shout - Dinghy in bay

No sooner had the crew packed away from this morning's exercise than our services were called on for the second time this weekend. At about 1300 I was just lifting my children into the car for our traditional Sunday afternoon trip to the town tip when my pager went off. Un-usually it was not a 'launch request Coastguard' page but 'launch ILB'. This often means that the launch is self-initiated (by one of our Cox's or DLA's) and that there is some urgency. I made the call not to respond as there were plenty of crew around and it was the ILB. As it happened a good call, there was soon a robust crew at the boathouse and in a short space of time they were on their way to the shout. It went something like this:

Crew: S. Williams (Helm), G. Steeden, Mt. Steeden

Details: The spring weather brought a number of sailing boats out for their first sail of the season from Swanage Sailing Club. Unfortunately, one of them suffered rigging failure and was spotted drifting in the middle of the bay by Sailing Club members. The alarm was raised and the ILB launched very quickly as a crew were available from the morning exercise. A tow quickly brought the Dart 18, ‘Clever Trevor’, back to the Sailing Club beach and the ILB was released back to station.

Fortunately no harm done, or at least nothing worse than dented pride! A job well done.

Shout - Cliff job

Well, it's happened again. We've had a shout. Another cliff job as it happened. Not a dog this time but a person. Thankfully all was well with them, from what we could work out they were just stuck.

We were called to assist the Coastguard who were in the process of recovering the casualties using a cliff rescue. As a result all we really did was sit there and pray that nothing went wrong. Bottom cover if you like. Off course the Swanage and St. Aldelhm coastguard teams did a magnificent job and both casualties were recovered very swiftly. Well done boys!

From the Swanage lifeboat website:

ILB Crew: S. Williams (Helm), T. Greasty, G. Steeden
ALB Crew: M. Steeden (Coxn), R. Aggas, D. Turnbull, J. Gilmour, P. Elleray, K. Dimarco, Mt. Steeden, J. Chadwick

The first 'Both boats' shout of 2007 came when Portland Coastguard requested that both the Swanage Lifeboats launch to assist with the recovery of 2 trapped climbers at Marmolata Buttress just to the West of Anvil Point. One of the climbers was trapped about 60' down the cliff, the other at the bottom. The lifeboats launched and were quickly on scene where they were able to illuminate the area and provide communications to the base of the cliff. Swanage and St Albans Cliff Rescue teams made swift work of recovering the casualties and the lifeboats were released having been on scene for just under 25 minutes. Both climbers were checked over at the cliff top and found to be none the worse for their ordeal.

Would you Adam and Eve it?

Nineteen minutes past 7. I'd just put the potatoes in to roast. All was good in the world. And then the pager went off. My sister is here visiting so there is no surprise that this was the moment chosen for our first shout of the year. Quickly the old routine kicked in. Kiss the children goodnight, grab a warm jumper, car keys, shoes on and then off. Hurrying but not being reckless.

At some point in the journey between home and the boathouse the second page comes saying which boat it is. In this case it was the ILB. Not a shout for me but still things to do. As I arrived in the boathouse there was already an ILB crew assembled. As it was nighttime they were wearing extra clothes and grabbing the 'night' bag containing extra searchlight, batteries and image enhancer. Steve Williams was dressing as the Helmsman and asked me to call the Coastguard to get a heads-up about what it was..........And as it turned out it was a gentle introduction to the lifeboating year:

Swanage Coastguard had been called by the owners of a dog that had fallen from cliffs near Old Harry and had searched the area to find that the dog was at the base of the cliff. As access by sea was the easiest option, they asked for the Swanage Inshore Lifeboat to assist and the ILB was launched shortly afterwards.

The collie, Ellie, was quickly found and transferred to the ILB for the short trip to South Beach, Studland, and the waiting Coastguard team. The Coastguards, along with the owners, arranged for the dog to be taken to a vet and the ILB was able to return to station.

The brave crew on this occasion were Steve Williams, Tom Greasty and Matt Steeden. Well done you valiant chaps!!

Man in a rubber suit

Once a crewmember reaches the ripe old age of 45 they are no longer eligible to go to sea on the ILB (because it places a lot of strain on your body). However, there are some crewmembers (Nos. 1-6) who are the core of the ALB crew and therefor, regardless of their age only train on the ALB. Nevertheless, some of them, myself included, are in fact young enough to go out on the ILB. Occasionally, very occasionally, they go out and train on the ILB to keep their hands in just in case the situation arises where they have to make up numbers (this happens just a couple of times a year). On Wednesday Robert, our Second Coxswain, donned a drysuit and put to sea in the 'Jack Cleare'. Now this is momentous, not only because there are many on the crew who have never seen Rob in the ILB but also because he borrowed Jon Deas' drysuit..........and it fitted, with room to spare!

Twice in a week

Well, having said that we rarely hear from people again after we have brought them in, this letter arrived hot on the heels of Dieter's e-mail. This gentleman was rescued by us late last year. His large power boat was high and dry, aground on some rock ledges close to Egmont Bight. Needless to say he was very pleased to see us. We recovered him from the boat using our little inflatable, put out a kedge anchor then took him and his crew back to the boathouse. At high tide we returned with them and put them back on board their now floating vessel and then escorted them home. I would like to think we provided a good service. Judging by the very generous cheque which accompanied the letter it would seem as if this chap thought so too.

A pleasant suprise!

So often we set out to sea, collect someone from the parlous state they have managed to get themselves into, sort them out, set them back on their feet and then we hear nothing ever again. Sometimes this can be quite sad. We do care and not surprisingly want to know how things have panned out.

However, sometimes folk keep in touch and even update us on how things have worked out. Last summer we were called out to a German yacht who's mast had quite unexpectedly fallen over the side! Not surprisingly the crew, including the skipper Dieter, were fairly shocked by this. Sadly there was little we could do to remedy the situation other that get the bolt-croppers out and cut all of the rigging adrift. By way of comfort I offered Dieter what little advice I could regarding getting the boat fixed up. Imagine my delight then when I received an e-mail this morning from Deiter giving me a full sit-rep on the boat. Thanks Dieter....

If you believe inside your heart
Nobody's second class
Every day's a brand new start
What's past is past
And if your dreams go nowhere
Don't give up the fight
Come with me and you will see
It all looks different in the morning light
(Stock, Aitken & Waterman)

What if?

With the exception of Dave the Mechanic, we all have day jobs. When our pagers go off we expect to be on the boat, sliding down the slip in under 10 minutes. With few exceptions this means that if we are at work then it is a case of drop whatever you are doing and running. Consequently this is something that most of us plan for and have in mind most of the time.

For me this is doubly difficult as I invariably have responsibility for 30ish students at any one time. Thankfully I frequently have a teaching assistant with me. I like to think that this is not entirely because I can't cope on my own! In the event of a shout they are the first to hold the fort. I leave the room, run down the corridor and call into the office on the way out of the door. Almost always there is a teacher or two lurking in the staffroom. Inevitably they then get asked to cover for me. Thus, on my return, there are often some ruffled feathers to smooth and I will loose my next few free lessons paying people back.

Mostly my TA is Laraine Ogden, all round school superhero. There is nothing she can't do and little she won't. Surely one of those people without whom it would all cease to function. Laraine............thanks!

And all the roads we have to walk are winding
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding
There are many things that I would
Like to say to you
But I don't know how

Because maybe
You're gonna be the one who saves me ?
And after all
You're my wonderwall
(Oasis)

A night to remember?

29th August 2003, 0418 in the morning and our pagers go off. It's rough, the sky overcast, NE 6 winds. Portland Coastguard requested us to investigate reported sightings of red flares approx 15 Nm SE of Anvil Point.

A commercial ship 'Dart 8' was in the area and they were also investigating. They had located a yacht that was thought to have fired the flares but was unable to make contact. We let go the mooring and made full speed to the position given by 'Dart 8'. A little under an hour later we were on scene to find a 36' yacht with total electrical failure. The yacht's crew had been at sea for 48hrs and were very tired. They had lost all their navigation equipment and making little headway into the strong NE wind. We decided to try to put a crewman aboard to connect a tow line. A couple of attempts were made to get alongside the final of which resulted in the lifeboat's guard rails being badly damaged as they were struck by the yacht. The lifeboat backed away and the damage was assessed. It was decided to run in again and this time 2nd Coxswain Robert Aggas was successfully put aboard, slightly injuring his leg in the process. A towline was quickly passed and secured to the yacht. Due to the bad weather the yacht would have to be towed into Poole Harbour. Good speed was made and the lifeboat was alongside Poole Quay at 08:55. The yacht was secured to a pontoon berth and the lifeboat was taken up to RNLI Headquarters so that Engineers could look at the damage. It was decided that the lifeboat would have to go for repairs if a relief boat could be found. It was decided that we would head for Lymington to pick up Lifeboat 12-001 if it's 'pass out trials' were a success. Unfortunately as the we approached Hurst Point we were told that 12-001 was not going to be ready and that there was no option but to return to Swanage and affect temporary repairs for the time being. The lifeboat finally arrived back in Swanage at 14:45.

What I haven't told you is that the first crewman to be put aboard was supposed to be me. I never made the jump, in the collision as we approached I was knocked overboard into the sea and narrowly missed being impaled on the yacht's anchor. Now 5am in the morning is no time at all to be swimming around in the middle of the channel. I was not happy. Thankfully Martin broke off his attempt to get alongside the yacht and maneuvered to fetch me back. He achieved this in an impressively short time I am glad to say.

I think that this may have been the only occasion that I have seen our ex navigator David Corben out on deck during a shout?

Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm doth bind the restless wave,
Who bidds't the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep:
O hear us when we call to thee
For those in peril on the sea.
(William Whiting)

Life is like a box of chocolates............

Floating debris is a big problem at sea. And events of the past week have brought this sharply into focus. There is now a vast amount of debris floating around in the English Channel. Not just whole containers, but fuel oil and also the discarded detritus left over by the marauding scavengers. It would be easy to view this lightly, roguish scamps against the filthy rich capitalists. But this ignores the reality that they are not just hampering the clean up but making it far harder. To them I say.............Think more carefully about what you are doing, buy your nappies like the rest of us, don't pick up discarded ones from the beach. And why not put your energies into helping rather than being so selfish.

We deal with the resulting damage caused by this floating trash all too frequently. Vessels are often caught up in old bits of rope or netting. This is exactly what happened to the 38' yacht 'White Oryx IV' 11Nm South of Peveril Ledge Buoy last year. They were on passage from Cherbourg to The Solent when suddenly the yacht's engine stopped. They had run over a large quantity of heavy netting. The yacht's skipper went over the side to see if he could clear the prop himself but unfortunately it was too deep for him to reach. There was absolutely no wind and the yacht was drifting West with the ebb tide at nearly 2 knots. As the yacht was disabled Portland Coastguard asked for assistance from Swanage's All Weather Lifeboat. We were paged and launched 9 mins later, a course was plotted and best speed made towards the casualty. We arrived alongside a little under 40 mins later. A tow line was passed across and the slow tow home began. Meanwhile crew at the lifeboat station were busily trying to find a diver to clear the yacht's prop to allow them to continue their passage. As luck would have it a local dive charter boat 'Mary Jo' was coming back into Swanage with divers onboard at about the same time as the Lifeboat and its tow. They very kindly offered to help and one of their divers soon cleared the large net allowing 'White Oryx IV' to continue on their passage to The Solent. We were then released to return to station.

For those in Peril?

There is an assumption that we lifeboat crew must get irritated by trivial callouts. After all, we exist to save life at sea, not to provide tows when people get into difficulty through their own fault. Yet that is not how we see it.

Neither do we feel that people should be charged for the service we provide. As soon as that starts to happen people become reluctant to make the call and our job becomes far harder. Rather than dealing with a simple situation, we would not be called until mistakes had been compounded and the situation had worsened. I've said it before; I would far rather deal with a situation in it's early stages before someone was in 'Peril' than wait until the problem had got worse. It's just the kind of guy I am, I like things simple.....

Incidentally, the owner of the yacht in the photo here was a Judge. He offered me tea or a cold drink, his wife provided cake. They were both embarrassed and enormously grateful. A couple of days later a sizable cheque arrived at the station. Only too happy to help your honour!

And relax

Inevitably day follows night, summer follows spring, after war comes peace and the pope tends to be a Catholic. In this certain way so calm follows the storm. Yesterday Britain was battered by storms. Fearsome winds, torrential rain and high seas all conspired to cause utter devastation and in some tragic cases, death.

This morning, Rob McElwee, of the BBC Weather Centre, said the storm passed into Germany overnight leaving sunshine and some rain expected in the UK. And this certainly seemed to be the case in Swanage this morning, the sea was calm, the skies bright with superb visibility. A time for reflection and thought, of what was and what might have been.


I mentioned that Lizard lifeboat had been involved with the Napoli shout yesterday. I’ve since found out that Falmouth was also involved and have managed to get some more details and pictures. Their All Weather Lifeboat left its berth at 13:00 and set course for the casualties position 48 miles SSE of Falmouth. The lifeboat was able to maintain an average speed of 20knots in the poor prevailing weather conditions, thanks to the outstanding design capabilities of the Severn Class lifeboat. They were stood down when only half way there, on this occasion their services were not needed but they were there, ready as ever.

You say you'll give me
Eyes in a moon of blindness
A river in a time of dryness
A harbour in the tempest
But all the promises we make
From the cradle to the grave
When all I want is you
(U2)

This time last year

Well, another quiet weekend has passed without incident. The crew remain patiently poised. We are back up to full strength this week as a lot were away last week for the boatshow........photos to follow.

In the absence of any fresh news I noticed that this time last year we were on our third shout of the year. This time Portland Coastguard requested that we launch the ALB to stand by the 58,000 ton Ro/Ro motor vessel 'Courage' that was dead in the water with a generator room fire 20 miles SSE of Swanage. We launched at 06:08 to assist in moderate weather and sea conditions but were stood down whilst still on passage at 07:10 (having covered 15 miles) as the ship had regained power and was making way. We returned to station and were back on the slipway at 08:13, just in time to head off to work as I remember!

Of course in this sort of situation there would be little if anything we could do about the fire, but we would be able to remove the crew if that became necessary. Luckily on this occasion this was not necessary. A happy outcome.

And then............

At the last mintute the crew warns the Helmsman of a larger than normal set of waves approaching so he heads back out to sea to wait for a calmer patch. Prudence pays.

Teamwork?

Sometimes the hard part is not launching or being at sea but recovering the boat and crew afterwards. Swanage benefits from excellent shelter from the prevailing weather but suffers when the winds come from the East. When the Easterlies arrive teamwork becomes vital. Here the crew in the ILB are poised to leap out and guide the boat into her trolley. 2 Shore crew steady the trolley and prepare to run it ashore once the boat is in. A man stands on the ALB slipway with a line attached to the ILB trolley to prevent it being washed off the slip. Out of the shot the winchman is waiting to begin winching in. Other shorecrew wait on the slipway ready to add weight to the winch and run the boat out of the surf. Everyone waits for the Helmsman signal. Teamwork.