St Helier
- Thread starter Ehecatl
- Start date
dogleg
Well-Known Member
poor reporting much more complicated than in this report, any LB can self launch without CG permission and frequently do, we have twice this year
chanelyacht
Well-Known Member
Knowing some of what's gone on, there is far more to this than the newspaper article.
I'm also aware of two other stations considering going independent.
I'm also aware of two other stations considering going independent.
prv
Well-Known Member
I'm curious about the mechanics of "going independent".
The RNLI own the boat. One assumes they would not be willing to sell it to an independent station, particularly one leaving on bad terms.
Do they own the station building? I suppose at least in St Helier there's plenty of harbour space for an independent boat to moor, it's not like a slip launch station where the existing building is the only practicable place to use.
In a sense, an RNLI station itself can't really "go independent" - what you actually have is a mass crew resignation followed by the formation of a new service nearby. The RNLI station is still there - what happens to it? Any chance of a new crew, or are the local relations so toxic as to make that impossible?
I wonder how well an independent station will do at fundraising to buy an all-weather boat. Genuine question as I have no idea how much money is around in Jersey and whether or not its owners are sympathetic to the crew.
Is this really the first time a crew have "gone independent"? I thought the Blythe all-weather boat, as featured in the controversial "Geordies Overboard" TV series a few years ago, was originally an RNLI station?
Pete
The RNLI own the boat. One assumes they would not be willing to sell it to an independent station, particularly one leaving on bad terms.
Do they own the station building? I suppose at least in St Helier there's plenty of harbour space for an independent boat to moor, it's not like a slip launch station where the existing building is the only practicable place to use.
In a sense, an RNLI station itself can't really "go independent" - what you actually have is a mass crew resignation followed by the formation of a new service nearby. The RNLI station is still there - what happens to it? Any chance of a new crew, or are the local relations so toxic as to make that impossible?
I wonder how well an independent station will do at fundraising to buy an all-weather boat. Genuine question as I have no idea how much money is around in Jersey and whether or not its owners are sympathetic to the crew.
Is this really the first time a crew have "gone independent"? I thought the Blythe all-weather boat, as featured in the controversial "Geordies Overboard" TV series a few years ago, was originally an RNLI station?
Pete
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lpdsn
Well-Known Member
I guess it'll be very complicated to separate as some of the money would've been locally raised anyway. I've no idea how they'll handle it.
Blyth I think was different as the RNLI closed the station because of the number of nearby stations. Historically, IIRC, at one stage there were separate lifeboats in Northumberland that merged with the RNLI sometime in Victorian times so they were quite densly spaced along that coast.
dogleg
Well-Known Member
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at Blyth the all weather boat was withdrawn and replaced by a ILB and later an Atlantic 75
from what has filtered down to the our part of the coast regarding St Helier the situation is very complicated and was not handled well at first by the RNLI but if what I have heard is correct there was and is fault on both sides
as regards the boat that belongs to the RNLI as does the Atlantic, whispers suggest they will go for a French boat if the situation is not resolved
it would help if the details of the whole affair were made public but the RNLI seems reluctant to do that possibly being constrained legally
at Blyth the all weather boat was withdrawn and replaced by a ILB and later an Atlantic 75
from what has filtered down to the our part of the coast regarding St Helier the situation is very complicated and was not handled well at first by the RNLI but if what I have heard is correct there was and is fault on both sides
as regards the boat that belongs to the RNLI as does the Atlantic, whispers suggest they will go for a French boat if the situation is not resolved
it would help if the details of the whole affair were made public but the RNLI seems reluctant to do that possibly being constrained legally
lpdsn
Well-Known Member
Perhaps Sybarite is on his way to Jersey as we speak.
dogleg
Well-Known Member
as honorary treasurer?
lpdsn
Well-Known Member
As a one-man French lifeboat sales team.
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Let's hope so. Easy to scoff but he makes valid points. Speaking as a former crew member, IMO the RNLI is the epitome of lions led by donkeys (though I'd class myself as more of a moggy).
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lpdsn
Well-Known Member
Maybe it'll be a wake up call for them. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the case (and nobody seems to want to go public with specifics) the crew seems to have a lot of local support and a disproportionate amount of the RNLI's legacy income presumably comes from those who retire to the Channel Is.
Sybarite
Well-Known Member
With a trade-in of the Tamar, they could buy 3 or 4 Classe 1 vedettes. New.
https://www.snsm.org/flotte/vedette-v1
Price new : £700k 46' AWB.
(memo Shannon 44' : £2.1m Tamar 52' £2.6m - £3m)
I'm sure that some of the financial institutions there would love to have their name on a boat.
They could check with the SNSM to see how boats and local lifesaving can be managed autonomously.
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Sybarite
Well-Known Member
Storm bound there for a week or so this summer.
Sybarite
Well-Known Member
I have been told certain things privately by ex-employees who cannot go public because they are all subject to gagging orders.
rich
Well-Known Member
The Life boat we have now, all the money was raised in Jersey! And the port of Jersey own the building.
I have been given the wrong information about the building.
I have been given the wrong information about the building.
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prv
Well-Known Member
But the RNLI won't want to trade in the Tamar, and the St Helier crew can't because they don't own it.
Pete
prv
Well-Known Member
Given to the RNLI, though, so where it was raised isn't really relevant. Except as an indication that they might be able to raise a significant amount again to buy their own boat.
Thanks, that's interesting. I wonder what the terms of the RNLI's occupation of it are? Rented, leased, just given a revocable license to use it? If the Port has the legal ability to evict them, and decides to side with the crew, then that could be a deciding factor.
To run a lifeboat requires three tangible things (ignoring intangibles like local goodwill) -
1) A crew
2) A boat, and its equipment
3) A shore building, and place to keep the boat
If this split becomes permanent then the RNLI have lost 1), will always have 2), and 3) depends on the arrangement with the Port.
Pete
lpdsn
Well-Known Member
Gets interesting though if some of the money raised through legacies was specifically left to be used for the Jersey lifeboat. Could be quite complex, although I think you're right that whether the breakaway suceeds or not really depends upon their ability to raise money locally, which depends upon the locals' view of the case.
lpdsn
Well-Known Member
I'm sure webuyanyoldlifeboat.com won't offer them that much.
rich
Well-Known Member
At this time a large majority of islanders are in favor of going it alone!