In April the Swanage all-weather lifeboat launched at just before 11pm along with Poole’s Atlantic and D-class lifeboats to a yacht on fire. The 24ft yacht was reported to be off Lake Road slipway and was found well alight as the Poole lifeboats arrived first on scene.
From the shore, on scene Coastguards had eyes on the casualty, who had jumped overboard and had swum to another boat, where he was clinging on. Poole lifeboat crew recovered him from the boat and carried out casualty care, before transferring the man who was very cold to the waiting ambulance crew and taken to hospital.
The casualty confirmed that he was the only person onboard the stricken vessel so no further searching of the area was required. The lifeboats stood by as the vessel burnt down to the water. Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue were also in attendance and when the scene was confirmed as safe and secure, the lifeboats were released to return to station to be washed down, refuelled for service by 1.30am.
Following the clocks changing in March, the Wednesday training nights have allowed some daylight exercises. This gives us more options to train at different locations with different kit. Although we can launch in any conditions, when we are training it helps to do this good conditions with daylight and calmer seas, especially when training new crew, allowing them to hone their skills in preparation for the more challenging conditions we may face.
April saw the volunteers firing rocket line throwers. These powerful pyrotechnic devices enable us to fire a line up to 250 meters and are used to pass a line to another vessel or possibly ashore when the conditions or location prevent the lifeboat being able to get close enough for a line to be thrown by hand. During our training session we put our inflatable daughter boat afloat to provide a target for the crew to aim the line for. We don’t get to regularly fire these pieces of equipment, but we use them before they reach their operational expiry date.
Our Deputy Lifeboat Medical Adviser, Katie Muscroft, who is an Emergency Medicine Consultant and Pre-Hospital Doctor arranged a casualty care training exercise on Swanage Pier with colleagues from the ambulance service joining the crew to simulate a shout scenario with an injured casualty. This was a great evening to practice our casualty care skills as well as working with colleagues from other emergency services. Thank you Katie!
The lighter evenings also making it easier for us to train along the cliffs and the crew have been practising access to hard to reach locations and casualty recovery.
In May a team of our volunteers have signed up for the RNLI’s MAYDAY mile, completing a mile a day in May helping to raise awareness of the RNLI and hopefully some money for the charity. We’ll update you on the crew’s progress next month!