Busy Carnival Day

A busy carnival day yesterday.

A multi agency briefing started the day just before 9am.

10.30 Team called to Ocean Bay after concern the heavy rain had washed the sand away from under a beach hut. Area taped off and liaised with Council for contractor to attend with a digger to replace the sand.

Whilst on the beach the team gave some safety advice to some jet ski riders about the 5 knot speed limit.

12.50 , Team along with Police, Lifeguards and Tourist Information staff search for missing 4 year old. Full team called to assist. Child located safe and well half a mile away and reunited with parents.

15.00 Team joined by colleagues from St Albans Coastguard for the carnival procession.

Just after 16.00 team tasked to Studland after an empty jet ski was found drifting off Old Harry. Both Swanage Lifeboats were sent and started searching for a missing person. Rescue 175 was scrambled from Lee on Solent.
Full Coastguard team tasked to carry out shore line search from Old Harry to Poole Harbour entrance. Some detective work from the team spotted a large motor boat off South Beach with a similar jet ski on board, Swanage ILB tasked to investigate and confirms the found jet ski had come from this boat earlier in the day !

17.10 Member of public approach Coastguard team at Studland reporting a white canister washed up near to Old Harry. Team tasked to investigate along with Swanage ILB. Confirmed item was a fishing marker washed up.

17.30 Poole RNLI ILB tasked to report of person in the water between Brownsea and Shell Bay. Team tasked to assist but on arrival the ILB crew confirmed two on a jet ski and managed to get ashore safely.

18.30 Team return to station , wash down , pack away equipment and go for tea !




That's carnival day for us and not forgetting those who were on carnival duties around the town.

Thank you to everyone for their support.

Coastguard called to ulwell stream

The team have just taped off an area at the Ulwell Stream outlet.

A concerned owner contacted the Coastguard after children were playing under the beach hut.

The area has been taped off and the Council will be attending to refill the sand.




Swanage beach currently has an advisory notice of water quality after last nights heavy rain.

Carnival Week Under Way

The opening day to Swanage Carnival has seen heavy rain for most of the day which is a real shame after all the effort that goes in.

Fortunately it was still dry for the opening event, although by running in the sea, the participants probably didn't notice.

Starting from the Mowlem,  competitors had to run round the outside (sea side) of every groyne upto and including Groyne 18 at Sheps Hollow, before scrambling under a cargo net and running back again. It was arranged for the lowest tides of the week and so took place at 08.30am today.

This meant an earlier patrol than usual as the team headed up to Ballard Estate to get a view over the full course and to be on hand for any incidents that may have occurred.  Fortunately all went well and everyone got back to the finish ok, albeit with wet feet!

Busy Station

A busy scene last night at our monthly kit night, or Operational Readiness Check as it's now called.
With carnival week coming up we took the opportunity to clean the vehicles and trailer.
We even had a visit from the local police to discuss safety arrangements for some of the events.

Major Search after clothing found on beach

Coastguards , Police , Poole Lifeboat and Rescue 175 were tasked to Studland last night after clothing was found left on the beach.

A member of the public called the Police after some items were found on the tide line.
Concerned for the owner of the items search units deployed searching from Old Harry Rocks to the Poole Harbour entrance including Studland Bay.

After four hours of searching , units were stood down with nothing found.

Dorset Police are continuing with their enquiries

Planning

Whilst we may all be volunteers there is an awful lot of work that goes on behind the scenes.

We spend time meeting partner agencies and colleagues to ensure when it matters our training and processes work.

Events in the town like carnival require careful planning and whilst it's down to the organisers we are quietly in the background to support or step in during an emergency.

It not just responding to the pager.

Five means Five

Saturday's patrol was tasked to speak to swimmer and jet ski rider after a heated discussion had taken place between the two of them.

We have five knot bouys in the bay every Summer, and the rules are simple.....any craft inside (ie the beach side) of that line of bouys is limited to 5 knots.
That's not to say that speedboats and jet skis cannot come inside the line - they can, but at 5 knots maximum.

On Saturday the swimmer was quite shaken when he realised just how close a speeding jet ski had been.  The jet skier was spoken to by the team and details passed to the MCA.

There is also a buoyed off swimming area on the main beach from which all motorised craft are prohibited

If you are boating into Swanage,don't forget to Arrive at Five Knots - no more !

Advance Warning

Take Care with Inflatables

Blow up boats and toys are great fun in the swimming pool, but we do not recommend their use at the seaside. This is because they can easily be blown out to sea.

Liz Hanson, Senior Maritime Operations Officer for UK Coastguard says,
“We’ve recently tasked numerous assets to investigate several reports of persons in distress on inflatables - of particular interest - a large inflatable Swan off Bembridge and a large inflatable Unicorn off Swanage. Thankfully both were recovered with no persons in distress. If your inflatable does blow out to sea, please let us know by calling 02392 552100.”

The Coastguard would like to encourage everyone to enjoy our British coastline safely. Go to a lifeguarded beach if possible, stay within the flagged area and listen to the lifeguards’ advice. If people do find themselves being swept out to sea, our advice is to stay with the boat or toy and shout for help, waving arms if possible. Do not attempt to swim for shore if out of depth. Ideally make sure that someone ashore is keeping an eye on you and ideally keep the inflatable on a length of line.  If you see anyone in trouble, call 999 and ask for the Coastguard.

Rainbow the Unicorn was heading due East past the Pier on Thursday night when she was recaptured.

The family whose unicorn blew out at Swanage commented how calm the evening was with no trace of wind and no noticeable tide, but the incident happened so quickly that although they tried to swim after it, it was very soon out of range.

Fortunately for them, the unicorn's escape bid was watched by the Coastguard Team who were training at Peveril Point and by the volunteers at the Swanage NCI.  Local fisherman Doug from Swanage Sea Fishing kindly put to sea and rescued the mythical creature before further alarm calls were raised.

Unicorn rescued in Swanage Bay

The team were on exercise at Peveril Point tonight when something caught their attention.

The watch keepers at NCI also confirmed the sighting of yes - a unicorn !

Solent Coastguard were informed as it was seen heading out to sea and may have caused further emergency calls




So well done Doug from San Gina who set off in hot pursuit.


The unicorn was soon caught and brought ashore.

Enquiries are on going to how it was let loose.

Coffee and Cake

The team was tasked to two more incidents at Durslton yesterday, bringing the incident count to 5 in 4 days in what's turning out to be a busy spell for the volunteers.

We're a fairly straightforward bunch who do not ask for much, but when the owner of the Seventhwave Restaurant at Durslton Castle brought us out cakes and a tray of coffee, who were we to refuse?

Service with a smile!

Its support like this that keeps us going through tougher times and is very much appreciated.  Thankyou!

The new trailer proves its worth!

Sunday's Incident

A few more phones from yesterday's incident at the Western Mile Marker.




These two photos of Rescue 175 were kindly sent by Eddy Young of Young's Adventure Solutions who has kindly given permission for us to put on the blog.





The Swanage and St Albans Coastguard teams working together on scene.

Fallen Climber at the Western Mile Marker

The team have been out this afternoon attending to a climber near the Western Mile Marker who had fallen and landed awkwardly on rocks 4 metres below.

Along with our colleagues from St Albans, the team were just beginning to set up the rope rescue equipment when CG Helicopter 175 arrived and lowered its paramedic winchman to the casualty who had sustained an injury to his ankle.

The Wiltshire  Air Ambulance also attended along with a local ambulance crew but both were stood down when Rescue 175 winched up the injured man and flew him directly to Poole.

Team assist ambulance

The team were called to assist South Western Ambulance at the stone quay yesterday.

The ambulance crew requested assistance will a male who had fallen on a local boat.
The team assisted with lifting the casualty off the boat and with providing safety cover to the ambulance crew.