Stunning Coastguard and Emergency Services

[PaulR]

Saturday 30 August coming in via Needles on way back from Cherbourg at around 1900 and heard dive boat off Swanage area call coastguard with pan pan message reporting that 2 divers were 3 minutes overdue in surfacing-Coastguard arranged within minutes for Swanage inshore and allweather life boat and Police Boat Alarm to assist and co-ordinated search for divers over VHF.
Happy ending in that divers recovered and both OK but what struck us was the brilliant service provided by all concerned-3 boats deployed by coastguard within minutes and all co ordinated calmly and effectively on a busy saturday evening.

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[Twister_Ken]

Agreed. Did make me wonder why divers were down in a race at spring tides though. Tides strong enough to pull their surface marker buoy under.

The question is sometimes raised whether boaters like us, who have to call out resuce services for 'silly' reasons - primarily engine breakdowns - shouldn't bear the cost of the rescue.

Saturday's incident, at face value, seems like another 'silly' incident, albeit one that could have cost two lives.

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[AndrewB]

Maybe the reason ...

... it happened so smoothly is that this type of emergency is so common. Round my way divers and diving boats are responsible for a disproportionate number of emergencies. Obviously they need help, but it does seem like they are exploiting a free service rather than providing (or paying for) proper support services.

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[Talbot]

Re: Maybe the reason ...

As a diver myself - they should not need assistance , If they are doing a drift dive, then they should be using a surface marker buoy anyway (and there should not be a problem with tidal stream strength as there is little difference under normal circumstances between the surface current and the tidal stream where the diver is - except for areas of intersecting tidal streams at entrances to rivers - but thats another story). If they are not doing a drift dive, then they should be coming back up the shot rope anyway. As in so many areas these days people seem to becoming reliant on others to solve their own problems without taking the effort to do it themselves. Calling for help for 3 minutes overdue seems a little soon. 10 minutes is acceptable - thats when I start to get concerned, and it is after you have completed your own search.

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[steve_cronin]

Doesn\'t that make you want to......

Cheer out loud for our magnificent VOLUNTARY Lifeboat Service.

If this had happened in Greece where I now sail then they would have been lucky to receive a reply on VHF. In France, they would have been presented with a very large bill.

Long live the RNLI in it's current form as a voluntarily manned and voluntarily financed organisation second to none - ANYWHERE.

Steve Cronin

Chairman, Charnwood Fundraising Branch, RNLI

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[AndrewB]

No. (nm)

nm

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[kindredspirit]

Re: Doesn\'t that make you want to......

I see that the RNLI are now considering whether to go with commercial sponsorship.

Will that be a good or a bad idea?

.

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[whisper]

Re: Doesn\'t that make you want to......

As another resident of Charnwood, I can't see anything wrong with this unless it leads Joe Public to believe that their donations are no longer needed. It seems to me to be a good way to broaden the RNLI's funding base.


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[Twister_Ken]

Re: Doesn\'t that make you want to......

RNLI has always had sponsorship, but private. That's why boats end up with daft names like Lady Doris Prendergast, or 4th Ringwood Boy Scouts. If the boat that plucks me from a watery grave were to be named I Can't Believe Its Not Butter or The Lady Loves Milk tray, I don't think I'd mind.

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