The team has been out this weekend checking paths, trails and routes at Studland.
We had a late night search in freezing fog at this very location earlier this week, and it's at times like that with almost no visibility that the local knowledge patrols really pay off.
The team were just packing up from training on Thursday when they became alerted to a cabin cruiser moored in an unusual position off the boat park slipway with its navigation lights on but nobody on board.
Concerned that someone might have fallen in the water, the team first boarded the boat to look for any occupants and then conducted a shoreline search. With nothing found, and with advice from the lifeboat cox and 2nd cox, extra mooring ropes were added to the boat to protect it against the incoming Easterly winds.
Using the registration number and name on the boat, the team were able identify the owner who confirmed he was safe and well.
The CG66 is an HM Coastguard registration form whereby owners can voluntarily register their boat details with the Coastguard in order that they can be contacted if the need arises. Google 'CG66 Scheme' and register yours now!
Winter training doesn't mean we stay indoors, and last night the team was out at a chilly Peveril Point practicing rope rescue set up.
On this occasion we didn't put anyone over the cliff but rehearsed the complete operation including setting up the hold fasts and agreeing a method of recovery and we treated the exercise as 'real' right to the point of going over.
At this time of the year other factors such as lighting and keeping the team warm need to be considered.
At Swanage Coastguard we pride ourselves on high standards - we train at least two evenings a month and we get together another evening each month to go through our kit, clean and check it and make sure it's it tip top condition.
Occasionally things go wrong - not operationally nor safety critical items - but perhaps something on station that makes us wonder if the person is perhaps doing it deliberately wrong in order to prove we can all make mistakes.
The best - or worst - offender gets the Donkey of the Year award and this year's winner was our Terry. Rumour has it that he avoided the presentation evening last week so as to avoid the donkey, but it doesn't work like that and we caught up with him after a callout the other day.
And his misdemeanour? Well it's a bit of a secret, but Terry is a full-on cleaning addict and the incident stems from when he vacuumed out the truck ('CRV') one kit night. Let's just call it High-Speed Hoovering.
In other news, we are on the lookout for a replacement 'Henry Hoover' if anyone knows of one.
We found out this week that this very blog was voted runner up in the best blog in Purbeck competition.
To be honest we didn't know we were being entered, and we were judged in the category that promotes the area in which we live - which is good because whilst the blog is about life in the Coastguard team, it's pleasing to note that it's doing more than that. In fact, its original purpose was to document the build of our new station in 2008/09, but more of that another time.
The winner was the Purbeck Footprints blog run by our good friend Julian Sawyer who runs the nature based photography, walks and talks business of the same name at the Old Stables. Well done Julian - good effort. He's got one of his talks on Friday evening if you're interested.
More details on the other categories and winners here
When we are called out to searches for missing persons, it's not just a case of heading out and looking anywhere and everywhere.
We always spend 5-10 minutes profiling the 'Misper' in order to give us a clue as to where they might be and to make our search as effective as it can be. Studies have shown that whilst a missing 12 year old might do one thing when lost, an 85 year old with, for example, early onset of dementia might do something else.
The former demographic tends to stay to marked routes and paths, and could be located upto 12km from their last known position (LKP) whereas the latter tends to head in straight lines, regardless of terrain and will only stop when they reach a physical barrier that is insurmountable. Invariably they will be no more than a few hundred metres away. Despondent people characteristically behave in a different manner, and young children different again.
All of this profiling information is taken in to account, along with the time since last sighting, the weather conditions, the number of team members available, other resources available etc and a search plan emerges. We also think about the equipment a Coastguard Rescue Office needs to take out on a search, including PPE, first aid kit, torch, VHF radio etc.
Tonight's training was around building that search plan and giving everyone a chance to input into it. Next time it might be for real.
The SO and DSO were out this morning transporting an MCA surveyor to our remote aerial site at Nine Barrow Down.
Whilst not quite on top of the World, this is the highest point in our patch.
