Clacton and Walton Lifeboats

[nortada]

How about going out in the other slightly bigger rubber dinghy with a crew over 55 years old.

If it didn’t comeback it could resolve any possible ageist problems.

 

[nortada]

Fancy putting off to the Outer Gabbard to pull a boat off in the gathering gloom and a rising wind in a rubber dinghy that is kept in a shed the size of an ISO container?

No? Nor me.

From experience trying to tow keel a boat with a dinghy is not easy. One solution is to moor the dinghy alongside and use it as the motive power whilst the casualty provides steerage but this is not practical with any sea running.

Back to the primary function of the RNLI; saving lives not boats, the crew would be taken off and the stricken vessel left to it’s own devices; possibly to be salvaged later. This then raises the question, “In rough conditions what is the maximum number of people that can be safely carried”

I suppose the answer is in the name, Inshore. The Outer Gabbard is hardly inshore so the Clacton or Harwich boat would attend.

 

[Juan Twothree]

I suppose the answer is in the name, Inshore. The Outer Gabbard is hardly inshore so the Clacton or Harwich boat would attend.

Harwich also has an Atlantic 85 as well as a Severn, so that would be another option.

 

[ylop]

“In rough conditions what is the maximum number of people that can be safely carried”

Survivor capacity

D-class: 5
Atlantic 75 & 85: 20
Shannon: 18 (or upto 50 but with loss of self righting
Tamar: 44 (or 118 with loss of self righting)
Severn: 28 (or 124 with loss of self righting)

 

[davidej]

I’m a bit late to this and haven’t read all eight pages but…………

IMHO the decision by RNLI management makes sense but their handling of the volunteers is absolutely sh*t. - not for the first time!

Do they have an HR department? If so sack them.

 

[Juan Twothree]

I’m a bit late to this and haven’t read all eight pages but…………

IMHO the decision by RNLI management makes sense but their handling of the volunteers is absolutely sh*t. - not for the first time!

Do they have an HR department? If so sack them.

You only ever hear one side of the story.

The press always take the side of the volunteer, and makes out the institution to be at fault, as that's what makes a good story.

I have had a lot of dealings with the RNLI personnel department over many years, and although they're a bit slow to respond sometimes, they're not malicious or vindictive.

They don't stand crew down for no reason.

 

[ylop]

I’m a bit late to this and haven’t read all eight pages but…………

IMHO the decision by RNLI management makes sense but their handling of the volunteers is absolutely sh*t. - not for the first time!

Do they have an HR department? If so sack them.

Volunteers are a nightmare to manage in any organisation. Could they have done it better? Perhaps. But I’ve worked in similar scale “institutions” when a “unit” goes rogue (sometime that’s the reason for closure, sometime it’s the threat of closure that drives it) and the emotional energy invested in trying to resolve things amicably is rarely obvious to outside observers. Often the volunteers don’t realise that even if they have invested their entire life in an organisation they don’t own it.

 

[nortada]

I am told that the Walton boat has departed to the Solent for a refit; rumour has it never to return.

Does this mean that the Walton station is currently without lifeboat cover at this the beginning of the busy summer (silly) season?

 

[nortada]

Understand yesterday evening there was a meeting in Walton to discuss the lifeboat situation.

Unfortunately I was not able to attend so would appreciate comments from anyone who went along.