Skid's Ark Royal trip

So it's a few weeks now since Skid went to sea on HMS Ark Royal. Finally however, I've managed to get some photos out of him so here are a few. From what he has said about it he had a terrific time and loved every minute of it. Judge for yourself.

He got the obligatory shot of himself stood next to the ships name-board.

Training on these sort of ships is continual and ongoing so Skid got to watch plenty going on. Here a couple of the lads are practising some gun drills.

The ships own flight were not embarked so there were no aircraft onboard. However, the RAF did oblige with a few landings in one of their Search and Rescue Seaking helicopters.

Sunsets at sea are always particularly impressive.

Skids voyage ended on home turf in Portsmouth, here the Ark Royal is passing the Spinnaker tower.

A great trip and I'm sure that Skid will remember the trip for many years to come. If anyone in the Royal navy is reading this...many thanks for making this trip possible and perhaps next time you might like to invite me?!

Opportunity Knocks

Every now and then an opportunity comes along which is to good to pass up. Last week exactly that happened when one crewmember from our station was offered the chance to spend some time on HMS Ark Royal while she is on passage from Newcastle to Portsmouth. As far as I understand it this is purely a jolly and designed to strengthen the (already very strong) link between the armed forces and the Institution. As is traditional in these situations, names were drawn from a hat and the 'wonderful - and not even slightly interested in girls' Matt Steeden won! Amazingly, and incredibly generously, he then decided that he would give his place on the ship to Skid as it is his 60th birthday this year. What a fine fellow.

Well done Matt, a very generous and selfless act. Skid, we are all looking forward to seeing your photos and reading a few blog posts about your trip. Perhaps you'll consider keeping a diary which we could post here?

Emergency steering

So one of the seamanship evolutions we practised on Sunday morning was rigging and using the emergency steering. The Mersey's primary steering system is a hydraulic system which is robust, reliable but ultimately not infallible. A situation could be imagine where a hose splits or a pump fails and this would leave us with no steering. Now in a boat with two engines and two props this is not a major problem provided the steering fails when the rudders are in the centre. However, if they fail with 30 degrees of starboard rudder on it would be handy to be able to bring them back to midships.

For just this situation our steering system is designed so that the hydraulics can be disengaged allowing the rudders to move freely, we then carry two block and tackles which can be rigged onto a lever on the top of the rudder stock to enable the rudders to be moved (because the rudders are semi-balanced and small they are light enough to be moved even at full speed). The system only takes a few minutes to rig but needs two crewmembers to operate who must stand in pretty exposed positions on the rear deck.

Once rigged the system can be used to steer the vessel both at slow speed and high speed but the preferred option is generally to centre both rudders and then steer on the engines. Nevertheless, we often rig it and practise using it as it is good for developing teamwork and highlights the need for good, clear and timely communications.

Sunny Sunday morning

In complete contrast to today's weather, yesterday mornings exercise was a very pleasant affair with a gentle swell, little breeze and clear skies.

With an experienced crew of Martin, myself, Steve, Skid, Gav, Dan, James and Matt onboard we ran straight through the whole sequence of seamanship manoeuvres (anchoring, man-overboard, emergency steering, drogue, coming alongside and salvage pump)at the same time as getting Gav and Steve to spend some time helming and Dan and Skid some time navigating.

All went well and a very profitable 2 hours were spent reassuring ourselves that our kit functions well and we know our stuff.

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.

Full on

Yesterday was a full on day. Goodness knows what has happened but we have suddenly got really busy. Not content with having our time filled with our excellent first aid course we also had two shouts. That makes 4 in the last 5 days! Not your average December week.The day kicked off just after 1000 when Portland requested that the ALB launch to recover a local fishing boat which had become attached to the seabed by a line around his propellor. He was located somewhere near Durlston head and, in deteriorating weather conditions he was freed and towed into the town slipway. In typically pragmatic 'fisherman' style he shot away a fleet of pots as he was under tow! Less than an hour after it all started 'Bingo Lifeline' was back in the boathouse, refuelled and ready for further service.Then at 1900, half of the crew gathered for the evenings instalment of our first aid course. It was a very practical evening. The incredible Paul 'Sáuvage' had designed an evening of multiple casualty scenarios. We took it in turns to respond in teams of six, while three at a time played the casualties and three at a time critiqued the responders actions. And it went very well indeed. With some very tricky casualties to deal with our fine training kicked in and we got the job done. Jo here had a nasty abdominal wound combined with a subtle but significantly large amount of bruising on her chest. Chad meanwhile had a nasty leg wound and was bleeding heavily.Meanwhile John had two very nasty arm wounds and had a 'life threatening' bleed. Paul and Skid skillfully dealt with this. First with direct pressure, then a tourniquet and finally with a pressure bandage. They were able to release the tourniquet after no more than 8 minutes. Superb!Wing-Co played the concerned friend with a nasty gash on the head. Not a particularly worrying injury in itself but in the context of the scenario one more thing to factor into the 'Triage' equation. He was also a pain in the proverbial!

But what amazed me about the evening wasn't our response, rather it was the high quality of the course and it's delivery. Paul delivered 3 large, complex scenarios to a group of twelve trainees and kept every one of them busy at all times. Of course the responders had to be on their toes, but the casualties also had to think carefully and work hard to play their particular injury or illness convincingly. They were also expected to respond appropriately to the treatment given.........surprisingly tricky. And then those critiquing had to carefully note all aspects of the treatment and then accurately and honestly provide feedback after the event. Awesome.Then, to round off a busy day we retired to 'The Ship' at about 2200 for a quick pint before bed. At least that's what we thought. Half a pint later we were all running out of the door in response to a page from Portland Coastguard. We launched both boats into fresh conditions to attend a climber stuck at the bottom of Guillemot cliffs near Dancing Ledge. As it turned out conditions were too rough for the ILB and she was sent back while still in Durlston bay. As the ALB arrived on scene the Coastguard cliff rescue team arrived also. It was agreed that the sea conditions were too rough for a seaward extraction except as a last resort and that a cliff rescue would be attempted. Half an hour later this was complete and the rather relieved casualty was back at the top and we were on our way home. I've no idea what time we re-housed 'Bingo Lifeline' but I got to bed at 0100.

A full on day.........

Reflections

Casting my mind back over the summer's photos I realise that I have several hundred images from lifeboat week which have yet to see the light of day. Add to these Mark Savage's collection and I have enough to keep me going for many years to come. I like this particular shot for 3 reasons:

1. Because it could have been taken on any one of the years that I have been on the crew and so seems timeless.
2. At a glance it looks as though Skid is doing something spectacularly foul to the poor paddlers.
3. It also shows Skids mildly challenged hair follicles off to perfection.

Last night's shout..........

............didn't go exactly to plan. Some time before 10 o'clock, Portland Coastguard had received a report of two men cut off by the tide on Broadbench at Kimmeridge. As it turned out, when the Coastguard 'Cliffman' got to the bottom and spoke to them they were fine......however, by that time we were on scene with the ILB and prepared to take the men off by sea if need be. That said, it was fairly lumpy and there was no way we were going to risk the ILB unless it was absolutely the only way of getting the 'casualties' off. The Coastguard 'Cliffman' had a lengthy conversation with the men and, though they were happy to stay where they were until the tide went out, they also (clearly being sporting types), were happy to be hauled up the cliff on the end of a piece of string by the Coastguard! In many ways this was a text book job on behalf of the Coasties. Seemingly in no time the winch was rigged and the two men were hauled up. A great job, well done. Perhaps the defining aspect of the evening was the incredible spirit of co-operation between the various assets. There were two lifeboats, two Coastguard mobile teams and the Coastguard in Portland involved...........all of whom were outwardly appreciative and understanding of each others efforts.The problems started when Skid, our weekend mechanic, noticed something on the floor of the engine room.On closer examination this turned out to be oil. Apparently leaking from one of the engines.A closer examination by Rob, Paul and Skid revealed that in fact the leak was from both engines and there was possibly also a small diesel leak as well!Luckily this was a job that could be rectified on station by our mechanics so, on returning to the boathouse at 0015, Paul, Skid and Rob began to replace the rocker cover gaskets. they were finished and in bed by about 0230! Well done lads, a job well done. They were however slightly intrigued by the discovery of this bolt and washer. They found them on the Starboard engine just sat there..........How and why they got there no one knows!

Anyway, once again I am off next week. A school trip to France this time. Jo has once more agreed to stand in in my absence so, here's looking at you girl.........

Bank Holiday

It has been a busy bank holiday for lifeboat stations in the South West with launches at Exmouth, Torbay and St Ives to name but a few. The weather in Swanage has been rather wild, talking to the a few of the crew I know that they have been thinking about the changing weather and the restlessness of the sea. Some of the crew have taken the opportunity to go away for the bank holiday, those of us that are left are trying to keep as available as possible to ensure that that there are enough of us to man the boats, should we get the call.

Paul, Skid, Steve, Kevin, Tom, Gav, Dan and John Deas are all starting a two week radar and navigation course tonight which will take place in Swanage in one of the RNLI's mobile training units. The course is fairly intense and consists of seven three hour training sessions, but is an essential part of their crew training. We wish them luck!

Time and tide

Tides are funny things, they are irregular and prone to not following the rules. The general rule is that it is better to focus on what actually is happening rather than what should be happening. Therefore, in circumstances where there is a lot of tide and a person in the water we sometimes use this technique to get a clear understanding of what is happening real time. I give you........the tried and tested.......'bucket and fender tidal flow predicting apparatus'! It also serves the purpose of giving us a moving datum to return to.

When Columbus set sail, sophisticated men wailed,
Calling him a fool saying, "you'll topple over."
The top brains of the day said, "That can't be the way.
You know the world is flat. Think on that, foolish rover."
(Vin Garbutt)

Mr Marks

Colin, or skid as he is more usually known, is one of our top-six crew. He has been on the crew for 14 years and has proven to be indispensible, not only as deck crew but also as an assistant mechanic. He is also one of the more mature members of the crew and this blend of wisdom and experience provides the Cox'n with a dependable crewman. Despite the appearance of this photo (which makes Skid look somewhat simple) he is of course a most intelligent chap who manages the local depot of a well known firm of builders merchants. He also brings his wife Sheryl to the party who acts as the treasurer of our crewfund (at least I think that's what she does......I certainly know it is something to do with money!)