Today’s training has been at a whole other level, as we’ve been part of a full exercise with the local coastguards.
This exercise involved:
Launch of both boats – the Margaret and John Pulfer and our smaller Tornado.
Locating a casualty at the bottom of the cliffs (round at Fairlight).
Rescue and recovery of the casualty.
Liaison with the coastguards – and exercise debrief afterwards.
Working with the coastguards:
Photo opps were limited to the base-side of the cliff:
Getting launched …
Off to the rescue …
Returning from the task … and recovery of the boats (always a vital aspect of every launch) …
Once the crew had returned and both shore and boat crew were debriefed by PLIRB’s Darren, as well as the coastguard team, the exercise was declared a success by the visiting observer from the national coastguard.
But of course, despite the success, plenty came out of the exercise in terms of learning for all boat and shore crew volunteers, so there’ll be plenty more practice like today’s in the future. Watch this space!
It’s been a busy weekend for the Pett Level Inshore Rescue Boat. The brilliant weather brought plenty of crowds down to enjoy the local beaches, which is great to see.
However, the busier the beaches, the greater potential for children to get lost, and the first “SHOUTS” came on Sunday afternoon: two separate incidents of children missing at Camber. Thankfully on both occasions, base and boat crews were stood down when the calls came through to say each child had been found safely.
But, having experienced a Sunday afternoon of pagers going off, resulting in base and sea crew volunteers rushing in response, alongside the fact that the same fine weather was predicted for Bank Holiday Monday, it was decided that having a ‘Watch Crew’ today, Bank Holiday Monday afternoon, would be a sensible precaution.
So from 2pm on Bank Holiday Monday, the Pett Level Inshore Rescue Boat base was open and active, and the Margaret & John Pulfer main inshore boat launched with a crew of 3 to provide offshore patrols at Camber. As expected, the beaches at Camber were exceptionally busy, and the Coastguards and Rye Lifeboat were also in attendance.
As it turned out, being available to help was certainly the right thing, as today’s boat crew was able to help a dinghy which had 5 persons aboard. Those on board were struggling to control the dinghy and were being drawn out to sea, especially as their paddles were not really suitable for the purpose of keeping the dinghy on course. Our crew spotted the situation and investigated to offer assistance. Their help was requested, so they towed the dinghy back to the safety of the beach at Camber.
Meanwhile, back at base, the base crew were keeping a close watch on the inflatables in the sea at Pett Level, so that all eventualities (and change in wind-direction) could be prepared for as much as possible.
Thankfully, no further action was needed, so the crew made a safe return back to base where the boat and tractor were cleaned up and refuelled ready for next use!
We’ve been fortunate enough to have a beautiful day today, with excellent weather and sea conditions for some ‘Man Overboard’ training with our brand new resource, our ‘SeaSafe’ training dummy, currently known as ‘Bob’.
But this ‘dummy’ is actually no dummy, it’s a specially designed ‘body’ which has a level of buoyancy whilst also being around 40kg – simulating the weight of a clothed casualty in the water. We’re extremely lucky to have been able to purchase Bob thanks to recent donations and fundraising, and of course this type of training is vital for the crew, as it allows them to get used to:
Retrieving persons (conscious or otherwise) from the sea.
Manoeuvring the boat alongside a person in the sea, for safe retrieval.
Handling the casualty safely onto the boat and then onto the stretcher.
First though, it’s a case of getting the boat safely launched, particularly across the low tide beach, strewn with rocks and areas of sinking sand …
After a few drop offs and pick ups with Bob, it’s time to add stretcher training into the mix …
Then it’s all hands to the deck for dropping off Bob (and then retrieving him safely) …
Then, after a quick crew change it was time to do it all over again with another crew, so that all trainee crew would have an opportunity to rescue Bob and learn some of the techniques for this type of rescue.
To come … doing it all over again in less favourable weather conditions … so watch this space!
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