Another form of transport

Having realised the Land Rover wasn't going to fit in the garage and that step up was just too big for some of us - we returned the keys.

We carried on and spoke to some amazing mountain rescue and cave rescue teams that span the country.

Kerry discovered a mountain bike and now wants to set up a Coastguard Bike Response Team.

Roger wasn't quite so sure about that saddle.

So that left just the Station Officer working out how to get home.

Well thanks to this charitable trust who work with Devon and Cornwall Police one of these kit cars will do.

These kits are supplied in Devon and Cornwall to primary and secondary schools.

Well job done - fits in garage and low step in.

Any one seen Kerry and Roger ? Last seen heading south with Roger sat on handle bars?

Swanage Coastguard on Tour

A delegation from the team headed north to Birmingham this week to the Emergency Services Show at the NEC.

The range of equipment , knowledge and skills is massive and such an opportunity to see what is available.

Of course the team had a mission statement of gather what you can especially if it's free.

Good effort Rog and Kerry who collected the keys to this brand new Coastguard Vehicle which was part of the Coastguard stand - beat my free pen from that other stall !

Roger on the Piddle

Slightly unusual incident last night when the team were requested to help Dorset Police with an incident on the river Piddle.

A small child's inflatable had been seen upturned near to the river bank and whilst the Police had searched the area they wanted the item recovered to ensure no one tried to recover it themselves.

A water rescue technician deployed and recovered the dinghy which was handed over to the Police.

Hudson-Patrick Tan Test ©

It was rather sunny earlier today....but it looks like the sea fog has just rolled in.

Eric Hudson had his legs out at the station showing off his suntan, he’s been in Tenerife - he's always in Tenerife!; Roger Patrick had his shorts on too trying to get a tan, he’s also been in working somewhere exotic - Corfe Mullen. 

It's fair to say Eric beats Roger hands down on the tan - by way of comparison.

Eric's legs

Roger's legs

Terry's head is as brown as a hot cross bun, although without the cross, and no raisins....or orange peel come to think of it. Duncan was looking slightly pale, but he's a teacher and gets the next 16 weeks off on summer holiday so plenty of time to catch up.

Tom looked quite brown which is odd given he works nights, sleeps during the day and is scared of the sun; not a big fan of garlic either I'm told.

In order to stop disputes as to who is the brownest I’ve decided to implement the Hudson-Patrick Tan Test © which will be based on a colour chart by a well known wood stain manufacturer, rather than chicken legs.

This will allow HM Coastguard tans to be graded fairly.

At the moment Eric’s legs are somewhere between an ‘Oxford Brown’ and ‘Saddle Tan’, whereas Terry’s bonce is closer to ‘Redwood’ than ‘Sequoia’.

I’m afraid Roger's legs are currently ‘Cape Cod Grey’ although he’ll probably be ‘Harvest Brown’ by mid July.

Oh the Coastguardy bit, make sure you take care in the sun and cover up betweeen 11:00 and 15:00 when the sun is at its hottest. ...What sun I hear you say!

Where's Roger...?

Following the recent dog rescue the team were sitting at a local cafe enjoying a cold drink and debriefing the job when this van drew up opposite.
We can only assume he was looking for Roger, but sadly we couldn't find him anywhere.

Roger to the Rescue

Our very own Roger gets Swanage reopened yesterday with the Police. A fallen tree temporary closed the A351 and with the local authority staff pushed to the limit a request to Roger " have you got a rope" saw the situation quickly resolved.

Roger goes to sea

As this blog goes live, our Roger is hopefully safe aboard the Swanage Lifeboat as it hits the sea for an exercise.

It's something we arrange for our team members to experience what the RNLI crews have to do and more importantly what they can see on the water.
When we are on the cliff tops monitoring the lifeboat we can see a lot further so it's important our Rescue Officers appreciate things on the water.

Thanks to the Swanage RNLI crew for taking him out.........( hopefully photos to follow)

Roger and Ruth

Regular readers may recall our new team member Ruth Lee who joined the team last week.

Roger has taken it under his wing to help Ruth find her way around and show her the ropes, and tonight he kindly offered to take her to training over at Peveril.  Properly seat belted in, and with the trade mark arm on the window ledge Ruth seemed to thoroughly enjoy the trip, although Roger reckons she was a bit quiet.
On arrival at the training site, Ruth was helped out of Roger's Land Rover and unceremoniously thrown down a steep hillside, landing in a heap at the bottom. 



Ruth Lee - great for those car sharing lanes where you need 2+ people

Ruth was safely recovered and returned to the station where we debriefed the exercise over a mug of tea. Her next public appearance will be on Sunday morning when we have our team Rope Rescue re-assessment  at St Aldhelms Head.  Now she knows what's in store, I wonder if she'll be quite as keen...

Now That's What I Call........a well stocked fridge

Holiday's are coming so Roger was tasked to restock the fridge.....plenty of healthily products.....other chocolate bars and drinks are available however they weren't 3 for 2 !

It'll probably last a while, well until Austen comes back on leave.

Mountaineering

A few of the Coasties are away at the moment - no doubt Lee and Chris will tell us what they've been up to in due course, but we have news that Roger is away mountaineering in Snowdonia and today, he reached the summit of Snowdon itself.

Roger's never afraid to try different ideas and techniques and so, even though its his holiday, he's been testing out some equipment designed to make scaling heights like Snowdon easier.  Apparently with careful use of this speciality kit, not only do you get to the top slightly quicker but the potential for pain in the hips and feet is reduced too.

I'm sure Roger will give us a full appraisal on his return, but in the meantime I have managed to find some further information on the enhanced climbing apparatus.  Take a look for yourself 

Line dancing - Swanage Coastguard way

Kit night this week saw Roger walk 500 metres - cleaning the ropes.  (we know its 500 metres as each rope is 250 metres long and there was two !)

Every couple of months the ropes have to be turned and cleaned to get the dust and grit out of them.  Gareth and Lee watch on as Roger  does the North Beach Car Park dance - it's lonely but it has to be done.

Feeding time at the zoo

The team always needs feeding and this was the scene after last Saturdays incident in the boat park. This was Roger's third trip to the table, whilst Nick just kept going round the table moving from the sandwiches to the puddings.  Tom thought he was out of the shot but clearly got caught with a sandwich in his hand.

Still........Austen's "milk only diet" is going well despite his protest.

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.