Well, the great and the good of the Wareham branch of the RNLI came to the boathouse last night. Very enjoyable it was too, quite an experience for me as a teacher to find such a willing and well behaved audience. Indeed, seldom have I had such an enthusiastic audience prepared to suffer me talking about my passion for so long and in such detail. It was real ‘pull up a bollard and lets talk about me’ sort stuff. Of course, I was keen to pass on my detailed technical knowledge (stop laughing Dave) of the boat………..all they wanted was the gory details of our most heroic shouts. I did my best to enliven the stories and make them live up to their expectations. I can’t help but think that perhaps I was faintly disappointing in my lack of heroics!?

Still, they were very generous and had provided a buffet supper for after the talks. I like to think that Gav, Rob and I displayed some true heroism in the way we tackled the mountain of food. Never let it be said that we ever fail to rise to a culinary challenge! To those who came, thanks for your interest and support and please come again.

Lifeboat crews give generously. In so many ways. Now I’m not seeking my own aggrandizement or that of my fellow crew, or indeed seeking thanks for what we do. However, the very obvious generosity of this small band of givers often masks or hides the incredibly generosity of many folk who give but without the glory. I’ve said it before that without the actions of the little girl stood on a corner selling stickers and shaking a box we would be nothing.

Tonight the Wareham branch of the RNLI are coming to the boathouse. They wish to see our kit, learn more about the institution and meet some of the crew. This is no chore for us, indeed it is a real pleasure, a chance to thank personally some of those kind, generous but oft forgotten givers who make our work possible. So of course we will be there and we will gain great pleasure from sharing our knowledge of lifesaving at sea with some true supporters.

But somebody’s gonna have to answer
The time is coming soon
Amidst all these questions and contradictions
There’re some who seek the truth

Why do the babies starve
When there’s enough food to feed the world
Why when there’re so many of us
Are there people still alone
Why are the missiles called peace keepers
When they’re aimed to kill
(Tracy Chapman)

A good maintenance routine starts with a thorough sort out after a launch. Before anything else can take place the messy tasks must be got out of the way. Here the boat is being refuelled.

Once that is out of the way she is given a thorough wash down with ‘car-wash’ and a sponge, inside an out. She is then hosed off.

Once this has been done she is hoisted up by the bow so that any water in her can drain out of the back. Then all of the kit stowages are opened so that they can dry out. Finally the battery is hooked up to a charger so that the batteries will be kept in tip-top condition.

Not all lifeboat shouts are heroic. Indeed, not all lifeboat shouts come to anything. However, something can certainly be learned from most of them. Take Saturday afternoons offering; bright sunny afternoon and a stronger than predicted off-shore breeze. Emphatically not the right time to be messing about in an inflatable toy.

Portland Coastguard received a ‘999′ call from a member of the public saying that 2 children were being blown out to sea in a small inflatable dinghy, their mother was swimming out to their aid but they weren’t sure if she would be able to catch them. The lifeboat crew were paged and the ILB was quickly in the water and on scene two minutes later. Fortunately the situation had resolved itself and the children had just made it back to the beach when the lifeboat arrived. Once it was established that everyone was accounted for and no further assistance was required the ILB was released to return to station.

Thankfully many ‘incidents’ in Swanage are resolved like this, people either sort themselves out or a member of the public lends assistance……..just how it should be.

I’ve said it before, we are a tight knit bunch as a crew. We make no apologies for this. It’s the way it works. last night we had another inspector’s exercise, Tom Mansell was in town and put the boat and the crew through their paces. The main theme of the evening was search patterns………in other words, methods for finding people who are in the water and lost, important stuff, particularly if it is you in the water!

Win or lose, sink or swim
One thing is certain well never give in
Side by side, hand in hand
We all stand together
Play the game, fight the fight
But whats the point on a beautiful night?
Arm in arm, hand in hand
We all stand together
(Paul McCartney)

Lifeboat crew are practical people……one wouldn’t necessarily expect them to have a great deal of artistic talent, however, last year we proved that this was not the case. Local artists Nina Camplin and Antonia Phillips (who work under the name of ‘Shocked Custard’) helped us to produce a total of three paintings of lifeboat scenes from the year. Each one was a collaborative effort by many of the crew. On completion they were auctioned to raise funds for the station. The one here depicts Kev and Paul engaged in a search using the ‘x-boat’ and was mainly done by Gav, Jon, Dave, Myself and Becky. It was of course great fun and raised a surprising amount of money. Naturally we will try to do this again this year…….perhaps we could auction one on here? Comments??

We have a very close relationship with our local rescue helicopter crew (Whiskey Bravo). We often serve with them on shouts and also exercise with them a number of times a year. These exercises are always eagerly anticipated by the crew as they normally offer a chance to be lifted into the aircraft and have a ride. Naturally there is also a fair amount of banter between the crews as seen in this photos. However, despite the laughs, a more professional bunch I have never met than the crew of ‘Whiskey Bravo’. (Photo – With thanks to Winco)

You spin me right round, baby
Right round like a record, baby
Right round round round
You spin me right round, baby
Right round like a record, baby
Right round round round
(Dead or Alive)

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)

So what happens when lifeboat crewmembers drink?

Well, here in Swanage our rules are simple:

If you want to drink do, however, only turn up for a shout if you are legally able to drive a car. On an average weekend some of the crew will go out, some will have too much. We don’t plan for this, luckily we have a large enough crew to absorb ‘no shows’. Only on rare occasions such as the evening do’s over lifeboat week and our annual Christmas party will we nominate a crew who must not drink, some folk are not big drinkers so don’t mind volunteering for this, others just take a turn. Only Dave, our erstwhile mechanic must regularly stay sober out of duty.

We sail the ocean blue,
And our saucy ship’s a beauty;
We’re sober men and true,
And attentive to our duty.
When the balls whistle free
O’er the bright blue sea,
We stand to our guns all day;
When at anchor we ride
On the Portsmouth tide,
We have plenty of time to play.
(Gilbert & Sullivan)

Last night Paul Elleray (known to most as Shilo) and his wonderful wife Gillian held a BBQ at their house.Many of the crew were there and it was wonderful to once more be enjoying the joys of summer amongst friends.Paul and Dan were on form and having fun.Tom was taking a welcome break from work, he’s had his busiest ever start to the charter season in his new boat.Shilo’s son Anthony had a new toy, a pair of springy stilts, naturally these were the centre of attention.Sadly they carry a weight limit and so only the miserly massed Liz and Jo could try them out. With a helping hand and much laughing they soon got the hang of them and were strutting their stuff up and down the street.

Walk tall, walk straight and look the world right in the eye
That’s what my mama told me when I was about knee high
She said son, be a proud man and hold your head up high
Walk tall, walk straight and look the world right in the eye
(Val Doonican)