RNLI Teddington.

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Time Out

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Yet again called out for a non emergancy.

An snagged anchor on a 30 something Sealine at Eel Pie Island.

Truly unbelievable that this goes on, launching all the time for trivial matters using charity funds.

Needs investigating by head office.
 
It makes my blood boil to see the Tedd Boat launched for a snagged anchor at Eel Pie ? The tide was falling the was a piddle of stream and they had a tender which was out.

They could have walked ashore ..

Besides it was a Sealine so prob not attached to the boat ;) they could have dumped the tackle and picked it up in Nov !

Joking aside not a good use of RNLI time, money, equipment.

Teddington station are fast becoming the default call out for anything mildly water related.

The amount of assistance they give the police for vulnerable persons not even near the river is becoming more and more common.

Let's not forget a huge amount of old folk in the local community collect on behalf of this lot in all weathers.

I understand the need, I used to live above it, but I think the balance needs to be restored.
 
Very interesting. Nothing on that last night whatsoever ... I see it was posted at 0620 this morning with the potential to take on water bit added ... Sorry i smell a rat.
 
Possibly difficult for long term highly experienced boaters to appreciate the feeling of absolute fear and panic which may be felt by someone less experienced than themselves under these circumstances.
A real fear of drowning for friends and perhaps even children could have set this rescue in motion.
Preventative early action is always preferable to things escalating out of control later.
A good call and probably a bit of fun for the rib crew.
Better a score of wasted call outs than one single tragedy. ?
 
Have you not seen the pictures ?

I appreciate your comments but the situation was far from any of what you describe.

The crew of Teddington have quite a bit of "fun".

Let's remember this is a charity and the local community collects for them. Often OAPs in the cold and wet.
 
So you'd prefer the crew to be sitting on their backsides twiddling their thumbs doing nothing unless there's a really serious shout?

They're there, the kit is there, they might as well make use of it. It's like the fire service rescuing cats out of trees, if nothing else it's good training
 
Now that's not what I said.

One is a charity the other is not.

Save lives yes, but if you did a study of Tedd I am sure you would see some unnecessary call outs.
 
Time Out said:
Oh and the crew are at their day jobs not twiddling their thumbs[/QUOTE}

Yes, sorry, getting my lifeboat stations muxed ip!

The point that it's better than a training exercise still stands and it's between the crew, their families and their employers as to whether the time commitment is acceptable
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If you'd dropped anchor a short distance upstream of moored boats / an island with pilings because of a drive problem, and the tide was about to turn against you, and the anchor was snagged, you'd be unwise to abandon the anchor.

The proximity of land in this case is part of the problem not part of the solution.

Note the shout happened just as the tide was about to start ebbing and the next 30 - 90 minutes would have seen strong currents in the location where the boat is as the flow is forced around the island. Not a place you'd want to be with iffy propulsion. Even less with just a bit of warp that used to have an anchor attached to it.

Add in the reported concern about taking on water, then getting out of this sticky situationbeforethe itde starts running full force rather than expecting it to fix itself seems sensible. I've no idea is this scenario above is what happened but it does fit the reported facts and the PLA / coastguard or whoever if advised of (1) a vessel on the tidal section with a snagged anchor and (2) no reliable means of propulsion and (3) possible water ingress (4) tide about to ebb would certainly be fully justified in calling the RNLI and indeed heavily criticised if they hadn't.

As to the vessel making it's way onto the pontoon under it's own power, it's one thing to do this with (1) unreliable propulsion, (2) an imminent ebb tide, (3) an anchor on board, and (4) a lifeboat tagging along. Quite another if (3) & (4) are missing from the equation.

I appreciate that confidentiality and potential legal issues often prevent full disclosure of what happened, but with incidents like this where footage is made public and a lot of information has been put into the public domain already it would be useful for the RNLI to fill in the missing gaps to (A) stop the speculation (and probably unfounded PR) and (B) so other boaters can learn from what happened.
 
Do you not find it odd that the reported incident went up a notch and added damaged drive could take on water sometime after the Twitter debate last night? No report of that whatsoever when first shared in social media / Twitter last night and the subsequent comments. The mostly focused on the fact the anchor caught on an old fire place. Nothing of any serious nature.

Odd that was added at 0620 this morning ?

Sorry I smell a rat.

I live locally and as I said once lived above Tedd lifeboat station and none of this stacks up.

Like the launch the other day to assist a woman on a passenger boat heading to Tedd lock ?? That's an ambulance into Ham job not a lifeboat launch from Tedd.

I am not for one minute knocking the RNLI and I have worked with them at a senior level and know the organisation well.

What I am annoyed about is the seemingly endless launches if Tedd to non incidents.

I feel for the pensioners collecting for them on the cold winter nights ...that's my beef. Not using charity funds wisely.

As for the incident ? Why drop your hook there with a drive problem and then motor down stream to Hammertons once the anchor was released? None of this make sense sorry.
 
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Lower Limit 1909 said:
If you'd dropped anchor a short distance upstream of moored boats / an island with pilings because of a drive problem, and the tide was about to turn against you, and the anchor was snagged, you'd be unwise to abandon the anchor.

The proximity of land in this case is part of the problem not part of the solution.

Note the shout happened just as the tide was about to start ebbing and the next 30 - 90 minutes would have seen strong currents in the location where the boat is as the flow is forced around the island. Not a place you'd want to be with iffy propulsion. Even less with just a bit of warp that used to have an anchor attached to it.

Add in the reported concern about taking on water, then getting out of this sticky situationbeforethe itde starts running full force rather than expecting it to fix itself seems sensible. I've no idea is this scenario above is what happened but it does fit the reported facts and the PLA / coastguard or whoever if advised of (1) a vessel on the tidal section with a snagged anchor and (2) no reliable means of propulsion and (3) possible water ingress (4) tide about to ebb would certainly be fully justified in calling the RNLI and indeed heavily criticised if they hadn't.

As to the vessel making it's way onto the pontoon under it's own power, it's one thing to do this with (1) unreliable propulsion, (2) an imminent ebb tide, (3) an anchor on board, and (4) a lifeboat tagging along. Quite another if (3) & (4) are missing from the equation.

I appreciate that confidentiality and potential legal issues often prevent full disclosure of what happened, but with incidents like this where footage is made public and a lot of information has been put into the public domain already it would be useful for the RNLI to fill in the missing gaps to (A) stop the speculation (and probably unfounded PR) and (B) so other boaters can learn from what happened.
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Worse things happen @ SEA :sleeping:
 
It's hard not to be struck that the video shows that the casualty has an inflatable tender nearly as big as the lifeboat.

Personally I don't have a problem with the river lifeboats launching for situations like these, minutes from the station. The marginal cost in maintenance, fuel and risk to the Institution's personnel and assets is pretty small; the training benefit is real, and frankly if the crew enjoy it that's a benefit too. I know they don't enjoy small hours call-outs to recover corpses, but they do plenty of those.
BUT it is very important that boaters do not expect this kind of help, but rather, as the OP suggests, remember why they are called Lifeboats.
 
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Often OAPs in the cold and wet.
I feel for the pensioners collecting for them on the cold winter nights
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No concern for everybody else collecting for the RNLI on hot summer days :) or attending clubhouse sales on windy autumn evenings.

Not quite sure what that has got to do with the rib being asked to attend this incident.
Suspect your cold and wet pensioners would be the first to call on the service, ?
 
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This incident has been manipulated to make it sound more serious than it was.

No mention of stern gear failure or the possibility of water being taken on board. The original tweet made light of the fireplace. The amended tweet made reference to the rest some 8 hours after someone highlighted the fact this was a wasted mission on Twitter.

They always state the nature of the call out on their social media channels. This is the first time it has been updated / added to.

I stand by the fact this was a waste of time until i am corrected. If that happens you will recieve a full apology.

Once more I smell a rat.
 
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