Finally The Sun Came Out

After the heavy rain .......finally the sun shone


Colleagues from St Albans came down to support us and we borrowed the Bosses car for the weekend.


We hope the Carnival managed to collect some donations for their many chosen charities.

The Team never lets a bit of rain spoil a good breakfast.

Unusually this years multi agency briefing was attended by less than a few people.

In fact it was just the Coastguard and ......




Gareth briefing the team on how many sugars Roger has in his tea

Carnival at 16:00

The Carnival procession has been put back until 16:00 to allow the weather to clear.

Carnival begins

Long day for the team starting with a military parade.




Coastguard providing safety cover to the rear of the parade.




A fair amount of tea was drank whilst the team waited for the 1st incident based in the forward operating base.

The 1st incident was a yacht collision in Studland and the team called to locate the owners.




We worked closely with the police today , another incident which Coastguard and Police attended was when the team observed a speed boat close inshore to the quay at high speed and turning dangerous.
Speaking to the persons on board they claimed they had a medical emergency but declined both a lifeboat or ambulance.

Strong words of advice were given due to the risk to swimmers and had they had an emergency perhaps calling for assistance would have been better.

Finally the fireworks before returning to the station at 22.30

Carnival Day Weather - I'm sure it'll brighten up!

Swanage Carnival Weekend!

http://www.swanagecarnival.com

Carnvial Fireworks and Dorset Police new Light Sabres

Well finally Saturday night saw the final fireworks and the end of the Carnvial.

All week there have been large crowds and some excellent entertainment.




The Swanage Safer Neighbourhood team modelling the new Police Light Sabre issued specially for tonight.

Swanage Carnival and the Coastguard team

So Carnival week continued ......and the team continued to be involved.

The Dog Show , Eric commentating - (he hasn't stopped talking all week ) and Roger along with the Mayor judging the competitors.


Wednesday night saw beating the retreat, another chance to put the uniforms on and get a photo with our great friend Clifford.


Eric again with a pint of apple juice showing his respect to his senior officer !


Thursday night - a night off so with the families we took over the beach and had a fish and chip supper.

Swanage Carnival

It was the Swanage Carnvial today - a busy day for the team as the potential for incidents is very high due to the numbers in the town. Thankfully only one 1st aid incident today.


As in previous years we were joined by our colleagues from St Albans Coastguard, we also borrowed the bosses car to assist in transport if required. Whilst it is fun to be in the procession the main reasons for taking part is to move around the town so we don't get stuck responding to incidents.


Loads of chances of photo bombing people taking photos of us!



Fiona, our local Police Inspector was spotted along with Sgt. Hickman keeping everything safe and moving - not sure she still hasn't got over her recent training session with us.


The route changed this year due to the sea front being closed - Eric found this difficult - which gear do I need?


Finally after a long day - back for a BBQ and repack the station.

What does he look like!

Changing view

You go on holiday, come home and someone has taken the beach huts away!

Shore Road is looking different and will do for a whilst stabilisation work and new huts are built.

This area has in the past been important to the team during carnival week, being the forward operating tea stop.

Red Arrows 18:00 this Friday

The Red Arrows are due in Swanage at 18:00 Friday 5th August 2011. Third year in a row.

Tom (Red 11) overseeing the action.

The bay provides a natural amphitheatre so not only does it provide great viewing points to see the action the roar from the jets is accentuated. Some top viewing spots include The Downs and Ballard where you can take some cracking close up photos.

Few people know this but Tom, above, is an ex-red arrow pilot.

Carnival's Here

Swanage Regatta and Carnival week starts today which means the busiest week of the year for a lot of the townsfolk, businesses, volunteers and emergency services.
The Coastguard team will be out and about all week and will provide safety cover for some of the key events such as the firework displays and Swanage Bay swim.

No doubt Eric will swap his Coastie polo shirt for a bright red carnival one, operating as he does as a dual agent.
Ian and Oz will be manning the official beach hut.
Dee's hoping the B&B will be busy
Rid's probably doing the running stuff again. Goodness knows why.
And the rest of the team will adopt strategic positions in the bar tent in full view of the stage and with easy access to the Curry Monster.

And the breaking news......We're not doing the 'Its a Knockout' this year. Booooo

Looks like a nice day for a Carnival.

Seems the weather has improved a bit this morning. Only a week to go to the Swanage Carnival!

Will the weather be set fair?
Will we be able to join the parade or be tasked to a casualty....like very year.
Will Ian Moustache be joining us again.

Was it busy?

During the Red Arrows, the "Downs" got a little busy......hence we carried out some "training" in that area to ensure everyone stayed safe.

Lots of people mixed with cliff edges plus people looking up, leaning back to get that picture and it could get a bit messy!

Thankfully out of the couple of thousand people on the Downs the only casualty was my own daughter stung by a bee!

I think we all have to thank the carnival committee for a very good week.

(yet again someone got in my photo, it getting like those books ......where's Wally!)

Red Devils

Despite the atrocious weather last Wednesday evening the Red Devils jumped out of a perfectly good plane high above Swanage.

Sadly the weather curtailed the freefall element of their display, but it was great to watch nonetheless. The photos do not do them justice.

http://www.reddevilsonline.com/

ooooohhhhhhh arrrrrrrrrrr - said the crowd.

More fireworks last night; a really good display put on by the Carnival Committee. They’ve worked hard all week (in fact all year) and it was nice to see it end with a bang! (excuse the rubbish pun). Everyone who walked past us after the show was commenting that it was the best they had seen; so well done to Darren and the Committee.

Organising the fireworks is a pretty big deal, and all the emergency services are always in place should we be required.

At sea were two men in a little boat patrolling a temporary Maritime exclusion zone – to ensure the boats did not get too close to the waterborne fireworks. I say little boat but it was actually a Pocket Battleship – the 9ft plastic ‘Ark Royale-With-Cheese’, crewed by none other than Tom and Austen who have now decided that they want to be in the navy. (They were off duty- Coasties don't do water)

Above: Looking nervous in training the day before.

They understood that their payoff for patrolling this exclusion zone was to be the best seats in the house when the fireworks commenced. The firework organiser (known as the let-er-off-erer) came over to us ask if the safety boat could move further out as it might be too close; “what was that, nearer?...you want them nearer, down wind” said Ian smiling.

Jonathan Ross (Local Resident) was not here this year so the town had to countdown themselves 10 – 9 -8 wait 10- 9 -8 -7 wait, every year they do it. …get on with it ….3-2-1 Bang! And we’re off!

Above: The ‘Ark Royale-With-Cheese’ moored safely off shore in a fog bank. - No readers it REALLY is in the middle of this lot. We were smiling at this point.

Within 3 seconds Tom and Austen sitting in their exclusive ringside seats, were engulfed with smoke, spending the entire 20 minute performance coughing and spluttering in the thick firework fog. On shore it would be fair to say that this gave us Coastguards much amusement, especially when the waterborne fireworks went off!

Thirty minutes later and Tom and Austen returned to shore, slightly blackened, followed by a funny gunpowder smell. “Austen, have you been on the fake tan?” "BIT LOUD WAS IT!"…“So how were the best seats in the house, chaps?”

…..their terse replies are unblogable.

Kayak Racing Vs Salty Old Sea Dogs

At 7.00 sharp the kayak racing began. The Clock Tower to Ocean Bay. This was interesting in itself but for more amusement there were two men in a little boat. Swanage Coastguard's own Tom and Austen providing safety cover - off duty. Ian and I provided safety cover for the safety cover if that makes sense.

We have been trying to think who this lovely couple remind us of.....

is it Jack and Rose (Titanic), Captain Barbosa and his monkey... Pugwash and Master Baits... Captain Birdseye (x2)... Captain Jack (and his) Sparrow.... the Owl and the Pussy Cat. Answers on a postcard please!

Thankfully everyone got safely to shore - including the safety boat!

It's a Knockout - Hitting people with sticks.

I not sure what this event was called – so I’ve named it ‘Hitting people with sticks’. Basically stand on an inflatable mushroom and belt seven bells out of your opponent.

Austen was dead good at this but then he was up against a girl. In the spirit of equal opportunities he decided not to take it easy but belted her.

An unfair fight ...yes, entertainment ...yes.


Above: Evil Austen showing no quarter.


The crowd boo’d and hissed.....but we got the points.

It's a Knockout - Plank Racing

We should be good at this one what with the teamwork element to it. Basically strap 6 blokes to 2 planks of wood and walk them down the field. How difficult can it be!!!






Well it was difficult, made even more so by members of the team accidently destroying said walking planks within 2 seconds of the start. Never mind.

To make up for this the team ‘Accidently on purpose’ knocked over the scoring board -which was purely a distraction to so that we could change the scores. Suddenly Dorset Search and Rescue’s (DORSAR) score of 6 became a 1!





How that happened they’ll never know….unless they are reading this blog.