RNLI age rant

[snowleopard]

Having rowed at university I thought I'd take it up again when I moved near to the Thames. I was told that as I was over 28 I'd have to be in a veterans' crew.

 

[mikefleetwood]

Having rowed at university I thought I'd take it up again when I moved near to the Thames. I was told that as I was over 28 I'd have to be in a veterans' crew.

It's like that with the Pilot Gigs too - competitive crews mostly in their 20s, after that it's "veterans" - or, even "super veterans"! I did one race - fishermen vs rowers (as honorary "fisherman" - damn near killed me - I'll stick to my "social" rowing, thank you!

What people here are not realising - it is one thing to go sailing for a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon, or even cruising with shelter in anything above an F4 - in a lifeboat, you might be out for anything up to 5/6 hours in F9 or worse. It's not all about turning up at regattas, smiling and saluting. They want to get involved, take what's offered - do useful work with shore crew if that is what they say.

 

[prv]

Yes, I've had an identical conversation with an ex-IRB RNLI Coxswain who gave me the same story. Oh, and coming back after x hours in ridiculous seas, bouncing from wave to wave for hours, needing to recover for days and needing to wear a kidney belt on bad days to prevent himself peeing blood for a few days after

I'm 31 and I'm quite sure that my body isn't up to the demands of being ILB crew

Quite fancy the idea of all-weather boat crew, but since Calshot went RIBs-only there isn't one anywhere near me, and in any case I know it's midweek daytimes they need crew and I work too far away.

Pete

 

[JumbleDuck]

Yes, I've had an identical conversation with an ex-IRB RNLI Coxswain who gave me the same story. Oh, and coming back after x hours in ridiculous seas, bouncing from wave to wave for hours, needing to recover for days and needing to wear a kidney belt on bad days to prevent himself peeing blood for a few days after,

I did some vaguely related research, many years ago. Constant pounding on synovial joints, like the spine, causes cumulative damage even when each individual impact is quite small. It's a bit like high-cycle fatigue in metals; no single load cycle causes the damage but after a long time they do. The damage in this case being transverse cracks in the cartilage, leading to joint pain and possibly osteoarthritis. Almost all experienced gliding instructors have low level back pain, because - I believe - of the constant pounding they take from their students' firm landings.

I can wholly understand why a responsible operator or RIBs - not just the RNLI - would be very careful about limiting exposure to the experience, even to people who feel fine. By the time it hurts, it's too late.

 

[mbay]

What people here are not realising - it is one thing to go sailing for a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon, or even cruising with shelter in anything above an F4 - in a lifeboat, you might be out for anything up to 5/6 hours in F9 or worse. It's not all about turning up at regattas, smiling and saluting. They want to get involved, take what's offered - do useful work with shore crew if that is what they say.

I don't think for one minute anyone on here does think that.

What people are not realising here is that at 45 some people can still do it..........and some can't

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I don't think for one minute anyone on here does think that.

What people are not realising here is that at 45 some people can still do it..........and some can't

But determining which can and which can't is problematic - as JumbleDuck said, the damage caused by pounding is cumulative, and may not show up until it is too late. Being in good physical shape is not, of itself, a guarantee that you can still take hours of pounding.

Incidentally, some of the most physically capable people I've known have also been the people whose physical health deteriorated most rapidly once deterioration started; a triathlete I knew who was competing into his 50s broke down very rapidly when things started to go wrong, for example.

 

[mbay]

But determining which can and which can't is problematic

Agreed