On Patrol

Coastguards SW06 and SW07 photographed on patrol on Ballard Down this afternoon, courtesy of a passing cyclist.

Poole Harbour Patrol

Today's patrol concentrated on reaching some of the more remote shoreline of Poole Harbour, which forms the northern boundary of our patch.

 

We are not often tasked to these areas, such as Ower Quay, Cleavel Point and Goathorn Pier, so it's good to check the tracks are still driveable and we know the way.

 

What are the chances we get a tasking out this way now?

It's not all on the coast

This mornings patrol went a little inland to check access for some popular mountain bike ride.

The teams are available to assist our partners in medical emergencies if required.




Kingswood near Rempstone





Back to the beach and just stopped to check a dog was with its owner.

Those Hard-to-Reach Places

Not all of our incidents are conveniently located next to roads or car parks where it's easy to get equipment and personnel to, and frequently we find ourselves carrying kit by hand.   Of course, we get as near to incidents as we can with our 4x4 but this is heavily dependant on ground and weather conditions.

On patrol last Saturday the team checked the access routes out towards an area known as Cattle Troughs (we check the state of the tracks, check that gates still open, we oil padlocks etc) and it gave an opportunity for some off road driving practice too.

Part of the skill of off road driving is knowing the limitations of the vehicle with regard to the terrain and knowing when to get out and complete the journey on foot.

 

Time to walk - in this case on the top of Ballard

 

On Patrol on Ballard

Roger and Kerry showing off their new uniforms.


On top of Ballard with Studland in the distance.


The patrol stopped and talked to a couple of para gliders


Roger takes a turn ..... ....... Taking a photo

Watching

The Station Officer caught on camera at the weekend.

Whilst at Middle Beach a group of visitors headed around Red end point Studland but were in danger of getting stuck.

Coastguard patrols set out for lots of reasons, local knowledge , access checks , gate oiling, environmental scanning, land slip monitoring, accident prevention, public relations, education and enjoyment of the area we live in.

Coastguard in Corfe

The visit to Nine Barrow Down with Corfe Castle in the back ground.

Access gates checked along with the ground conditions.

Come Hail and High Water

Today's patrol focussed on some of the tracks in Rempstone Forest and looked at a new training location and some possible access points to the shoreline, should we ever get tasked in this area.
During the 2-hour sortie, the patrol encountered glorious sun, high winds, torrential rain and hail.  Oh, and a rainbow with a pot of gold in Poole Harbour!



Hail and Sun at Cleavel Point


 

Cleavel Point - Sun and Hail

There's a pot of gold somewhere....

Christmas Patrol

Having had Christmas dinner number five it's was time for a big walk.......




After a visit to the chaps at the National Coastwatch it was a very careful look over the edge to see some fresh cliff falls.




Not being bird spotters this was quite a sight to see in the hover riding the strong wind looking for prey.




A winters sun......just oddly a bit warm although windy.

Spot the dog

This afternoon the patrol were at Anvil Point when they were approached by a lady reporting that her dog may have gone over the cliff.

The patrol searched the area before requesting the launch of the Swanage RNLI inshore lifeboat.

Someone then spotted the dog on a ledge so with the help of the patrol the lifeboat was guided to the right spot to collect the dog.

The patrol then took the owners to meet the lifeboat and reunited all parties.



Always keep dogs on leads near cliff edges - never try and rescue a dog that has fallen from cliffs - dial 999 and ask for Coastguard.

Swanage Lifeboat photos

On Patrol

A contender for photo of the year from Kyle - Coastguard on patrol at Anvil Point.

Access All Areas?

Out on patrol today the IRT came across a new gate blocking the way.
Until it is resolved, we'll know not to rely on this route in an emergency.

Storm force 10

Pictures from today's patrol.

Looking north towards Ballard, not much beach left.  A lot of debris washed up, including various beach huts damaged in the week.




Large waves saw several surfers in the water along with some jet skis.  Several surfers were also seen in Durlston bay where the waves and conditions were much worse. Whilst visiting the NCI lookout a gust of wind recorded force 10 on the weather gauge.

  Finally at Durlston waves were hitting the cliff face causing the spray to clear the top of the cliff over 120ft above.

Flooding

With the weather conditions very poor the patrol headed out to check key areas and it wasn't long before we found some problems.

The Corfe river had burst its banks and was causing traffic problems. With the Police on the way we had to step in to control traffic before someone ended up in the stream.

With the arrival of Police a traffic plan was put in place with traffic diverted via the Studland road allowing traffic out of Swanage to flow with a bit more care.

Not really a Coastguard incident but this shows the close cooperation we have locally and to keep people safe.  Flood water is dangerous and the Environment Agency have flood warnings in place in Swanage and Corfe.

A load of Bollards

An early morning patrol today due to Mothers Day (get out and back before the ladies in the house have got out of bed).

Part of the reason we carry out patrols is to check access routes and here at Durlston we thought we would try the new key out and work out how the bollards work.

Tom thought you unlocked them and pulled, Roger (well trained in the building of such things) unlocked, twisted and pushed down. The Station Officer just thought it was amusing that someone was pulling and the other pushing!

So another important lesson learnt and it was off to test the breakfast facilities at one of the local cafes.

Access All Areas

One of the purposes of our regular local knowledge and accident prevention patrols is to check access routes. Here's Dee on patrol near Durlston a few weeks ago.

The padlock on this gate had rusted up and needed oiling and a lot of persuasion before it would open. In an emergency we could have found other less subtle ways to open it, but we don't like to upset local landowners! So maintenance is another of our patrol objectives.

Firework Patrol

Last night we headed out up to the view point overlooking the golf club to help spot any red flares in the Poole direction

A few minutes later we were called to King Georges field to assist Police after 4 red flares were sighted in the park area.

On arrival the police were talking to a group but confirmed they weren't anything to do with the flares which seemed to come from the prospect crescent area. A little drive around and sadly nothing was found.

We continued the patrol and liaised with the Police throughout the evening who were building up quite a supply of fireworks taken from youngsters.
One group we found were in the country park about to set quite a few off. Was this unfair? - Well the country park is protected, fireworks close to the cliffs can be mistaken for flares and should young people with drink be walking about near to the cliff edge at 11pm? - we have had to deal with incidents like this before so prevention is better than the cure?

As we returned to the station at 11.30pm - Southbourne and Lymington had just been called out for reports of flares, so perhaps our efforts were worth it?

Thanks

Austen and Nick have received thankyou letters from the family involved in the incident they attended last week. This a very nice touch and although nobody does it for the thanks or recognition, it's still nice to be appreciated. Our main concern as ever is that everyone ends up safe and well.

We never seek to judge the people we rescue nor pass comment although where appropriate we offer safety advice to try and prevent repeats, particularly with incidents at sea. Over the years we have operated regular Accident Prevention Patrols at weekends and we'd like to think this helps keep our casualty rates down. That said, with increased stay-at-home holidays last year our call out figures were higher than ever.

The way the Coastguard Service operates is currently under review; if you want to know what's planned or want to have your say please click the Consultation link on the right.

Weekend update

Another busy Sunday with Tom and Rid out 4 times in the afternoon.

1st a lady thought she had found something odd on the beach at Studland and flagged down the truck carrying out some training, this turned out to be some chain, but a good call. Next the team were tasked to Old Harry for some divers missing, then back to Durlston Head for a yacht putting out a mayday in fear of sinking.....Swanage Lifeboat did an excellent job towing them in Poole. Finally the team got called BACK to Old Harry to another dog fallen in almost the same spot as the dog on Saturday! Thankfully the owner recovered the dog before the team got there.

Same old safety message ???

Not bad for 3 hours work, so anyone at Ulwell wondering why the truck went up and down the road, they weren't lost.

Its not all hard work

Austen grabbing a cheeky ice cream on the beach at Studland.

A quiet patrol which was suprising considering the number of people out in the sun.