Another one for the forum accident investigation board.

[boomerangben]

"We were eventually lifted off by helicopter - most embarrassing, as it was in full view of the club on a Sunday afternoon."
See for me this is the problem and its all to do with the spectre of litigation. Officialdom is terrified of making a mistake or being seen not be perfoming to par in fear of being taken to the cleaners, meaning we now have this environment where all problems are managed with the swing of the sledgehammer.
There's an old seafaring saying... "one hand for yourself and one for the ship" Not something one hears very much today and of course feeds into the idea that when at sea you and you alone must prevail. But of course that does not preclude any reason not to call for help.
But the danger with all this is the slow erosion of ones natural sense of self preservation. How not to get in a pickle, how to make decisions that keep you safe, and what should one do when it all goes south... and so on and so on.

In the old days, there weren’t radios and perhaps not even flares, so there was no option - self reliance was all you had because you couldn’t tell anyone else you were in a predicament. In the old days medicine had little way in the way of cleanliness or drugs. But we are all, I think, glad progress has been made in both medical fields and the rescue services. We also as a society perhaps value human life more and society is less willing to accept loss of life where it might have been saved. So I wonder what your views are on modern medicine? Do you eschew that too?

By the way I get the self reliance thing and not wanting to “bother” emergency services. But I am also well aware that emergency services are more bothered about not being called at all. As for the watch managers and decision makers - perhaps spending some time in a watch room might change your perspective

 

[Stemar]

SOP is that they walk out to you towing a mud sled behind them.
They then get you to sit in it and winch you back to terra firma.

This was the beast part of 20 years ago, and all the guy had was a kayak, which might have been used in extremis, but a bit tippy, which might have left the person aboard in a worse state. It was also a local independent lifeboat so, possibly, not so well-equipped.

 

[Stemar]

In this day an age they could send a guide wire over by drone....which you then pull an ever increasingly large rope and then tow you back in the water. Saves anyone walking in mud at low tide which can be extremely dangerous

Yes, but the dinghy we were in was too floppy to be towed through the mud. Anyway, I suspect the LB crew would far rather have someone they know can tie a rope properly than some muppet who's already got it wrong once!