The RNLI

Workington lifeboat station has a Shannon but with a slightly different launch and recovery system which is quite cool in itself!

https://cumbriashipphotos.weebly.com/workington-lifeboats.html

I live on the East Coast and our local RNLI was the Spurn Point (Humber ) station,  at the time the only full time station. Think they have relocated to Grimsby now due to the fact the access road to the station has washed away.  Used to do work on the RNLI houses and at the time the coxswain was a guy called Bri Bevan, (still see him now and again) and back in the day he was featured on “ This is your Life”
There we’re certainly some characters on the boat back then!

The actual fourth emergency service in my opinion.

Believe my great grandfather was on the crew in Skegness so would have been back around the 1900’s I guess.

We stayed at their training centre in Poole for a couple of nights a couple of years ago. A great place to stay and helps them make money utilising it’s capacity outside of the working week when they don’t need the rooms themselves.

Hi Ernie,

Yes, I am a RNLI Launch Authority at Shoreham Harbour.  We are a Tamar ALB and D Class ILB station and are a slipway launch station.  And whilst being a volunteer myself, all of our volunteers boat, shore, shop and fundraising give a massive amount of time for free.

We were out last night at 01.15 until 03.00  …

And we had a shout at about midday as well

If anyone is down this way, let me know, and i will try and show you around

We were out last night at 01.15 until 03.00 …

Impressive!

I think what I find particularly interesting about the Saving Lives at Sea series on the telly isn’t just the actual rescue operations but also the interviews afterwards with the people who have been rescued, and what it meant to them to see the RNLI approaching in their hour of need. The whole thing can be a tad emotional!

Great thread, thanks!

I should have added, our local boat is a Severn Class and having been down in the ‘passenger’ compartment when alongside, I can’t think of how much ‘fun’ it would be in a big sea ??? – they have quite a big patch, covering down to Oban, up to Mallaig as well as Coll and Tiree – off the Cairns of Coll or Ardnamurchan Point in a big blow would be very unpleasant.
My work colleague’s husband and son are both crew, so there’s a degree of nervousness whenever there’s a shout – fortunately most are to deal with broken-down yachts needing assistance.
They had a funny one earlier in the year where a pissed-up tourist wandered off the coast path at midnight without a torch, slid down a steep bank and cliff to miraculously land on the only protruding ledge around. As he sobered up, the tide started to come in and called for help at dawn when he realised he couldn’t escape.

Fella I used to work with and MTB with (we crossed the alps together!) is some kind of captain type thing on the Jersey lifeboats. I used to follow him on Facebook, but got kinda jealous of what a hero he was/is. Top bloke, James. 😀

Beaten to it, but a former colleague is a crew member and very much recommends the accommodation at Poole, it helps run the centre for training and apparently the food is very good.

I grew up in West Cornwall surrounded by lifeboats and the Navy Sea Kings. Too young for the Penlee disaster but very much still remembered locally. I’m in Mid Wales now but always look for a lifeboat station to support when heading to the sea.

And on a positive ending, well chuffed that one of my school friends became one of their boat designers – what a job!

Impressive!

I think what I find particularly interesting about the Saving Lives at Sea series on the telly isn’t just the actual rescue operations but also the interviews afterwards with the people who have been rescued, and what it meant to them to see the RNLI approaching in their hour of need. The whole thing can be a tad emotional!

People do get themselves in very bad situations quite quickly – and generally , no matter how long they have been out, the crew are in a better place that those we rescue.  Sometimes even the trivial ones can be quite life changing for those involved, as they realise the impact of decisions.

And it is usually more than the RNLI involved – the Coastguard, CRT teams, police , paramedics – and various teams offering aftercare.

Boss in the ALB = Coxswain

Boss in the ILB = Helm

I grew up in West Cornwall surrounded by lifeboats and the Navy Sea Kings

Did some great sea survival training down there for a ship bourne deployment years ago.

Best week messing about on the oggin with the RN and RNLI.

^ everyone turns up for Helo training!

They need to be orange and grey for me. There is one parked up at Culdrose by the Helston Cottage Hospital roundabout.

@mrmoofo – I’d love to take you up on your offer. Local enough I hope; Brighton!

most are to deal with broken-down yachts needing assistance

Surely if someone can afford a yacht they could afford to pay a fee for this service, to the RNLI or anyone else.

Hardly what people are donating money to charity for.

I did a short stint as crew on the North Kessock ILB back when they had a D class.

I’m Crew at Troon on the Trent & D-Class.

He’s not on the boats but is part of the people who support the crews.

We need the shore crew to keep things ticking along and help us launch & recover. A vital part of the crew 🙂

The story of how we got to the point where mad right-whingers are anti-RNLI is fascinating. The increase in donations every time Faarage slags them off is quite heartwarming too!

He’s someone I really want to hit in the face with a chair!

most are to deal with broken-down yachts needing assistance
Surely if someone can afford a yacht they could afford to pay a fee for this service, to the RNLI or anyone else.

Hardly what people are donating money to charity for.

I think you really need to go away and maybe read the history of the RNLI and what their mission statement is, and come back and apologise for such a stupid statement!

I always donate when the volunteers are in town asking for donations, as a nation, the RNLI are an organisation that I feel we can be genuinely proud of for the service they provide regardless of who, or what they are literally risking their lives to rescue.
I always watch Saving Lives At Sea, and as someone above says, the interviews afterwards can be very emotional.

My Great Grandfather was a founder member of the Weston Super Mare lifeboats and station.

Which is/was on Birnbeck Island, the only island in the U.K. linked to the mainland by a pier, which has been allowed to fall into dereliction by a series of useless owners, which ultimately denied the RNLI access to their station and launch facilities.

Which is due in the reasonably near future to be restored and access to the lifeboat station will be the first part to be accessible!
Work has already started, apparently, and I’m really looking forward to being able to visit the station, and ultimately the island itself, which I’ve never been able to do.

Further down the coast is Burnham-on-Sea, which has an inshore boat, established in 1992, when they started fundraising for a boat, and Anneka Rice and the BBC Challenge Anneka built the boathouse in 72 hours. Next door they have a hovercraft, in fact they have two, thanks to fundraising started by the Western Daily Press newspaper, after a tragedy in 2002 when Lelaina Hall, a 5 year old girl got stuck in the mud and drowned before rescuers could get to her. The paper raised £115,000. In its first year of operation it helped or rescued 50 people! It’s a really dangerous stretch of coastline, the sea goes out about a mile, and comes in at around 3mph, and there’s large areas of thick mud, which traps people every year; a bit like Morecambe Bay, but with the second highest tidal rise and fall in the world. I live around sixty miles from Burnham, but I always donate when I’m down there, BARB are all volunteers, like the RNIB, but they rely on local support, and I believe the newspaper still supports them as well.
The thought of a little girl stuck in the mud while the sea comes towards her I find deeply upsetting and I think the team are an essential part of the work the RNLI do.

I know about them. I’m not sure actually what was meant by needing assistance – when there’s a danger to life, or just if anyone needs a bit of help? I had assumed the latter, like an AA breakdown or tow service for yachts. I’d hope they’d get a chunky donation in either case.

Surely if someone can afford a yacht they could afford to pay a fee for this service, to the RNLI or anyone else.

if you sail in the solent or some other very busy parts of the south coast there is a commercial “breakdown” provider similar to the AA/RAC, but in most other parts of the country there are no such offerings.  You might be able to arrange a tow on a commercial basis from a passing fishing vessel or even as a favour from another yacht – and that is where the coastguard will usually start looking for help but in reality where dovebiker is based a vessel adrift may present a serious danger.  Yacht is a very broad term – if it has sails you’d hope that in most situations the skipper could simply sail if it’s a breakdown, but tides and weather are not gentle up there and sometime the prudent choice is a tow.

their French equivalent will come and save your life for free but towing your boat in with a mechanical will result in an invoice.  The feeling is that in doing so it discourages people from contacting the Coastguard early to alert them to a developing problem – which actually endangers more lives.

Hardly what people are donating money to charity for.

i don’t think most people donating money to the RNLI want them to differentiate between an ill-prepared paddleboarder, a yacht owner with fuel contamination and a fishing boat who was worrying more about his catch than his position and runs aground.   In general RNLI crew are people who enjoy being helpful to others, simple “breakdown” call outs provide real life training / experience, and if you removed all of the “someone else could have done it” jobs it might be difficult to justify the existence of the station at all…

I also expect that a large proportion of yacht people are donors; perhaps donations would be lower if there was a charge for a call out.

Always supported the RNLI, wife is from Sussex and many happy hours spent looking round stations with the kids when they were little – there was some sort of kids club with a magazine and you got a badge every year.

Donated to the “Farage” lifeboat campaign, and most recently after my extended gammin family went off on a similar rant against them.

While it seems wrong that they are a charity and volunteers, can’t help thinking a state run version would not be an actual improvement.

    I’d love to take you up on your offer. Local enough I hope; Brighton!

@Pauly   No problem.  We are an inclusive organisation – we even welcome people from Brighton!

I am on duty this week – so PM me

Surely if someone can afford a yacht they could afford to pay a fee for this service, to the RNLI or anyone else.

Hardly what people are donating money to charity for.

The union star rejected assistance because of a cost attached. And look how that ended for the Penlee community.

While it seems wrong that they are a charity and volunteers, can’t help thinking a state run version would not be an actual improvement.

That’s kind of my feeling about it, too. It really ought to be a state-run organisation, or merged with the Coastguard. Same for mountain rescue – they should be part of the fire service. Which is not in any way to denigrate the work the volunteers do, just that relying on charity and volunteers for an emergency service doesn’t feel right.

I’m Crew at Troon on the Trent & D-Class

I remember when they got a brand new Arun when I was in primary school. Is Ian D still involved?

That’s kind of my feeling about it, too. It really ought to be a state-run organisation, or merged with the Coastguard. Same for mountain rescue – they should be part of the fire service. Which is not in any way to denigrate the work the volunteers do, just that relying on charity and volunteers for an emergency service doesn’t feel right.

Being independant means we are free from direct government interference.  The coastguard in France charges as significant amount to rescue people – hence people will sometimes avoild contacting them.  Just like mountaining bikers, not all boat users are mega rich.

The Coastguard controls the SAR operations and “asks” us to launch.

If it was government run you could forget about stations in remote places / investment/ and the good will of the volunteers that currently work there.

I have no doubt that there are parts of our role that should be in governments hands.  They already have Border Force – and could easily take that in-house.  They don’t

Whilst were are considered a “Blue Light Service” we are not allowed to carry blue lights, use them in any way, or break the law in driving to and from stations.

Just answering the “rich yachties” comment.  It’s not what we spend most of our time doing