Observer
Active member
Reading the latest issue of "Lifeboat" magazine (accounts of RNLI rescues) and recalling previous issues, I realised there is a pattern to the rescues.
Apart from the odd fishing boat or person swept off a sea defence, the vast majority of the rescuees, where the conditions are seriously life threatening, are raggies. In this latest issue, one account made it clear that the skipper of the yacht concerned had no idea how to handle his boat in rough weather.
Seems to me that because sailing boats are more capable of handling rough weather than an equivalent sized motor boat, their owners/skippers are more prone to over-estimate their abilities and therefore more likely to get caught out in conditions they're not able to cope with.
By contrast, I suggest, the conditions in which lifeboats are called out to rescue motor boats are likely to be much less severe and probably not at all life threatening. Motor boat skippers are: less likely to set off in bad weather (because it's so damned uncomfortable); get where they're going faster (so less likely to get caught by unexpected bad weather); make fewer night passages (rescues are clearly more difficult/dangerous at night); generally less likely to need the RNLI in bad conditions.
So what? Well, it seems to me that far from it being the case, as raggies are wont to express or imply, that they are somehow superior seamen, they are the ones who need more training - because they get themselves into more serious trouble more often.
Any raggies care to comment?
Apart from the odd fishing boat or person swept off a sea defence, the vast majority of the rescuees, where the conditions are seriously life threatening, are raggies. In this latest issue, one account made it clear that the skipper of the yacht concerned had no idea how to handle his boat in rough weather.
Seems to me that because sailing boats are more capable of handling rough weather than an equivalent sized motor boat, their owners/skippers are more prone to over-estimate their abilities and therefore more likely to get caught out in conditions they're not able to cope with.
By contrast, I suggest, the conditions in which lifeboats are called out to rescue motor boats are likely to be much less severe and probably not at all life threatening. Motor boat skippers are: less likely to set off in bad weather (because it's so damned uncomfortable); get where they're going faster (so less likely to get caught by unexpected bad weather); make fewer night passages (rescues are clearly more difficult/dangerous at night); generally less likely to need the RNLI in bad conditions.
So what? Well, it seems to me that far from it being the case, as raggies are wont to express or imply, that they are somehow superior seamen, they are the ones who need more training - because they get themselves into more serious trouble more often.
Any raggies care to comment?
