Cliff Training with a Difference

The big difference with Thursday's cliff training (or rope rescue training, to give it its proper name) is that there were no cliffs!

Instead, we used out first 'rope' session for a few weeks to run through some of the basics in a sterile environment on the grassy area next to the station - at least, it was sterile after we'd taken the precautionary inspection with a torch, shovel and doggy bag. Grrr!!!

Headquarters have provided us with some new kit recently, and so we used the opportunity to do a full cliff set up on a flat piece of land and try out the new items for the first time before we take them to the cliff top.

Main line and Safety Line Operators in position.  

It also gave us the opportunity to try different people in different roles and for us to introduce our newest team member to rope 'awareness' for the first time. (Rope Awareness is actually one of the achievement levels that someone needs to have reached before being part of a rope operation.  After that comes Rope Rescue Operator and Rope Rescue Technician. There's also a requirement for an Officer In Charge as part of the rope team, but I digress, and maybe more of that another time).

Rope Technician and two Edge Safety Officers

The whole operation was performed under floodlights, which adds another dimension, and we practised two methods of recovery - the petrol winch and the Z-Drag, a basic 2:1 gearing system for hand hauling. Again, more about our different recovery options in another blog!

The orange 'stake linking straps' in the foreground have replaced the previous system of using rope lashings. The Z-Drag recovery system is in use on the far side.

After a quick cup of tea (it was a chilly night!) all the kit was checked, repacked and stowed in the vehicle ready for service.

The Technician's view - normally the view is of a pair of ropes going vertically up the cliff to the quadpod, rather than along the flat

Cliff (Rope Rescue) Training

The team were up bright and early yesterday for some cliff training - or more correctly 'rope rescue' training on the Downs.

First jobs: get everybody there, get the kit there and unloaded
 

Kerry was the first cliff technician to 'go over'.....
 



...followed by Nick who never misses a good photo opportunity...

...followed by Brian who took the dog bag in order to recover an imaginary Rottweiler.  He brought back some rocks instead.
 

Recovery of the techs was by 'tugger', a block and tackle device with a nominal 5:1 gearing (remember your 'O' level physics!)
 

Ian ran the session - well, he did have his smart uniform on! We'll make sure he goes over next time.

 

The cliff face was very loose and crumbly at the bottom.....
 

....with evidence of a recent cliff fall.

Half Way

This is the view our cliff technician got when we trained at the highest point of Ballard earlier in the week.

This is about half way down. Or up, whichever way you look at it.

Edge Safety Officer

The Edge Safety Officer has a pivotal role in all our rope exercises - whether training or for real.

When we arrive at a rescue, a holdfast will be set up (consisting of two or more stakes driven into the ground as an anchor point for a safety rope) to allow an Edge Safety Officer to get to the edge of the cliff safely.  The ESO will try to make visual or verbal contact with the casualty and will assess the situation and report back to the Officer in Charge (OIC) and Rope Technician who will then decide how the rescue is to be achieved.

The ESOs (we deploy two) are the key link between the technician and casualty at the bottom of the cliff and the team of Rope Operators at the top of the cliff.  Their role includes:

• identifying, monitoring and reassuring the casualty
• reporting back key information to the cliff top team
• installing the 'quadpod' to ease the route of the ropes over the cliff edge
• final safety checks on the Rope Technician before deployment (there will have already been initial checks on the cliff top)
• assistance to the technician getting over the edge and identification of any loose rocks, ledges or other difficulties that he may encounter on the way down.
• relaying information between the operators and the technician and controlling the operation by voice, radio, hand signals or whistle signals
• assistance to the technician in returning a casualty to the cliff top (eg helping with the stretcher as it comes over the top.
• ensuring the technician and casualty are securely back in the safety zone before the recovery is considered completed and the lines are locked off.

The Edge Safety Officer should be an approved Rope Technician so that he (or she!) has the skills to advise / assist the technician and can take over if the need should ever arise.

ESOs check and assist the rope technician as he goes over the cliff edge

The view the Rope Operators get. In this case the signals - a winding motion upwards - are to take in the lines 

The view the Rope Technician gets.  The white canvas is edge protection for the safety rope (blue in this case) to prevent it getting damaged on the cliff edge.  The main line(red) goes through the quadpod system.

Photos from Fridays Multi Service Rescue.

Some photos just before the storm hit....

Cliff Top Rescue Team 1.
Assisted by HART Team and Swanage Fire

Cliff Top Rescue Team 2.
Assisted by Fire Service Rope Rescue

Thunderstorm

As a volunteer Coastguard sometimes you wonder why you do it.

It's dark and four hours into a rescue, you're standing on the top of a sheer 100m cliff with two cliff techs on the rescue line and a thunderstorm rolls in. The rain is torrential. The helicopter is standing off alongside, waiting to assist. Do we stop and run for cover, or do we risk getting hit by lightning and continue to prosecute the rescue?

There is a flash of lighting and an immediate thunder clap and the whole of Weymouth Bay and Portland are lit up in a purply white light for the briefest of moments.  

In that split second you get to see 20 Coastguards absolutely unphased, and the silhouette of our cliff top safety officer Roger Patrick - steadfast - watching out for the safety of the cliff techs below. 

That mental image is the reward.

The teams work through and successfully complete the rescue.

Multi agency rescue at St Albans Head.

The Swanage Team were tasked to back up the St Albans team at Emmitts Hill after a male became trapped under a boulder.

The male had been walking along the cliff when the boulder moved trapping the male by his legs.

The St Albans Coastguard were tasked backed up by the Swanage team just after 19.30. Rescue 106 arrived and started to search for the male , shortly joined by Dorset Fire and Rescue , which included their specialist rope rescue team.

Photos: C Dragatis - Swanage CG Team

Photo: Swanage CG Team

Fire Officers were flown down to the trapped male along with paramedics from South Western Ambulance. The Kimmeridge Coastguard were tasked to provide further support at the location.

Thankfully the male was released by the team at the base of the cliffs and airlifted to Dorchester County Hospital. This then required 9 rescue personnel to be recovered from the base of the cliff and the Coastguard teams went into action.

Rescue 104 was tasked to assist in the recovery of the personnel however a major thunderstorm hit the area and in horrendous conditions the rescuers were recovered with their equipment.

The teams all returned with equipment and rescuers very wet just before 1am.

Rodney and owner rescued from cliff

The Swanage Team along with colleagues from St Albans Coastguard were tasked at 11am to a report of a person and dog stuck on the Down at Swanage.

A member of the public had walked into the NCI lookout at Peveril Point to report their friend stuck having gone down the cliff to get the dog.

The team arrived to find the male from the Reading area about 10 metres down alone with his dog Rodney.

A cliff technician was deployed to stabilise the male from falling and then recovery of both of them.




Nick Field stabilises the male from falling before the teams recovered both the male and dog.




Rodney safely back on the top of the cliff.

Whilst the teams packed up their equipment , another dog further up the Downs disappeared over the edge. Thankfully the dog reappeared but it was nearly another incident.

Please keep dogs on leads near cliff edges and never try and rescue a dog should it go over the cliff - Call 999 and ask for Coastguard.

Climber Rescued At Anvil Point

The Swanage Coastguard Team, St Albans Coastguard Team and both Swanage RNLI Lifeboats were called this afternoon to Anvil Point.

A climber had fallen and dislocated his shoulder and was unable to get back up the cliff.

Swanage RNLI Inshore Lifeboat was 1st on scene and provided 1st aid whilst the Coastguard teams set up their equipment. A Coastguard technician was lowered taking Chris who is both a Coastguard and who's full time job is a paramedic.

Options were considered on the best method of recovery, stretcher, lifeboat or by helicopter. Coastguard helicopter 106 was training in the area and stood by for a short while whilst the climber was fully assssed.

A stretcher recovery was confirmed and the St Albans Team provided a further technician with the stretcher and successfully recovered the climber to the top of the cliff and the waiting Paramedics.

Notably both Coastguard Rescue teams had trained for this very scenario last weekend!

Helicopter landing at Anvil Point

A few more photos from yesterday's incident.

Both Swanage and St Albans Coastguard Teams prepared for a rescue using their rope rescue equipment.

Rescue 106 from Portland lands at Anvil Point having safely picked the climber up.

Climber stuck at Anvil Point Swanage.

Just after 13.30, Portland Coastguard received a 999 call from the emergency phone at Anvil Point stating a climber was stuck at the base of the cliff.

Portland tasked the full Swanage Coastguard team, Rescue 106 from Portland and the St Albans Coastguard to support the possible rope operation.

On arrival at Anvil Point the Swanage team established the location and started to set up their equipment. Rescue 106 arrived and assessed the situation. With the Coastguard Rescue teams on standby the winch man was lowered and secured the climber.

Rescue 106 (The keen eyed will see this is Romeo Delta using the callsign, not Whiskey Bravo)

Having safely recovered the climber to the aircraft the Coastguard set up a landing site to allow the helicopter to land. The climber was dropped off and checked over by the team, before being taken to the Coastguard station to warm up.

Different Types of Cliffs

As many will know from their geography field trips to Swanage we have a varied geology. To the north we have chalk, then some limestone, then some um ..other limestone.

"So what's this got to do with Coastguarding?"

Well have a look at these three cliffs:-



Durlston Bay

Old Harry

Anvil Point

All very different with different challenges and dangers; and as a team we train on all three so we know what to expect.

The first Durlston Bay is less steep but very slippy with numerous holes towards the top. Easy to get stakes in and get the cliffman over but easy to trip on the way down and turn ankles etc. Lots of undercuts and sharp ledge. Pretty flowers though in spring.

Old Harry, vertical and undercut, again easy to get the stakes in on top, but loose gravel at the top makes the first 5m difficult. On a dry day it's dust in your eyes and the cliff top safety officers. Below 5m and the keen eyed viewer will see big 'square chunks' of rock which are easily dislodged. You try and kick off the loose ones and carry on. Issues here are rocks following you down or the ropes twisting in the wind and catching rocks, again they like to follow you down. Anything larger than a tennis ball can do serious damage to the cliffman or casualty below. You spend most of the time looking up and dodging. On the bottom move away from the cliff face quick. Out of interest a stonemason has cut a face in the rock at the bottom.

Anvil Point, big cliffs, vertical. It's hard rock not very forgiving on our kermantle ropes which can become desheathed (outer lining cut) even with loads of line protection. Really difficult to get stakes in, but the rock face is nice and stable. Very slippy on the bottom. It's a nightmare bringing casulties over the top without them getting cut and bruised, we use the 'quadpod' (a four legged crane thing) here a lot. If we are going over here its normally a climber and we would be playing for keeps so to speak. It's an exposed site to the weather so othen cold, wet and windy. Not my favourite site.

So you don't need a geology degree to join the Coastguard, just an understanding that each type of rock brings up different challenges.

That's why we Train!

Having only just rigged an 'after-dark' a cliff top set-up, we were faced with the real thing last night (Sunday).

The pagers went off just after 8.00pm and we were tasked to a climber, stuck on the cliff somewhere near the Anvil Point Lighthouse.

We quickly grabbed the night lighting and trailer and met the first informant at Durlston who took us to the climb area.  The incident turned out to be along the coast path, several hundred yards west of the lighthouse and inaccessible by vehicle, so we lugged the lighting, generator, stakes, 250m rope bags, sledgehammers and other assorted equipment to the site by hand.

On site, the lights were soon up and running and a double-stake holdfast installed to give a cliff technician access to the cliff edge where he was able to spot, and make contact with, the casualty.

It soon became apparent that the climber was in no immediate danger and was in fact tired and unharmed on the rocks at the bottom rather than stuck or injured half way up.  Bearing this in mind and noting the calm sea conditions it was considered easier and safer to request Swanage RNLI's inshore lifeboat to recover the climber, rather than deploy a technician over the cliff in the dark.

We continued to prepare for a cliff rescue, setting up further holdfasts etc, just in case the lifeboat was unable to recover, but it was very soon spotted rounding Anvil Point and quickly on scene.  A quick call on the radio confirmed that the casualty was on board and the boat was reversing out and it was time to pack the kit up, carry it all back to the truck and return to the station.

A Job well done, and thanks to the RNLI crew for their quick response.

There's a decision making process to go through when carrying out operations such as last night's, including whether to recover by ropes, by lifeboat or even by helicopter.   This is normally a job for the Officer In Charge -OIC- in conjunction with the Portland operations centre and other team members and we'll take a look at that process and the various factors to consider another time.

Swanage Cliff Rescue Team Deployed

Swanage Coastguard were 'Team paged' today for a person last seen on the edge of the cliff up on The Downs above Peveril Point.

A lady in a pink top was sat on the edge of the cliff and was unresponsive when a Swanage Town Council groundsman asked if everything was ok; he returned one minute later and the lady was gone - he called 999 and asked for the Coastguard.

Cliff Rescue Team ready to deploy again.

The team were on scene in 6 minutes and deployed a cliff rescue technician to ascertain whether the lady could be seen. Due to the nature of the cliffs and a number of blind spots the Swanage RNLI Inshore boat was asked to attend and put two of their crew ashore - another quick response from them.

Other rescue assets in the area were deployed including Maritime Coastguard Agency Boat - MCA Osprey along with Coastguard Rescue Helicopter 104 which was in the Weymouth area transiting back to Lee on Solent. A full search was undertaken.

Coastguard R106,  MCA Osprey and Swanage ILB (RNLI)

Although the Coastguard Cliff Rescue Team was stood down with nothing found - the initial information given was with good intent and matched what the team saw on the ground - lots of broken grass and slip marks including what appeared to be more marks half way down the cliff. Very odd.

The cliffs are a lot steeper than many people think!
(Photo:- Coastguard Oscar - during training last year)

Thanks to our local Portland MRCC for co-ordinating the rescue again!

Cliff Training

As Deputy Blog mentioned yesterday, Austen led a cliff training session last night on a beautifully sunny Swanage evening.

These sessions give experienced team members a chance to brush up on their skills and techniques whilst giving the newer recruits the relevant training on the route to becoming cliff 'operators'. And of course, it gives us all familiarity with the kit in a non-pressure situation; next time it might be for real, and it might be dark, wet, windy, cold or any combination of those.

Once the session was over and the kit stowed away, a debrief over a customary cup of tea was held at the station.

Rescue video - 03/06/10

Some footage of last weeks rescue taken by our colleagues on the Swanage Inshore Lifeboat; thanks chaps.

They arrived on scene first and were able to reassure the casualty while the Coastguard cliff team were deployed. Cliff Man John Bentham did the honours.

From the lifeboat it doesn't look too high, trust me it was! I was standing on the edge working as one of the Cliff Top Safety Officers monitoring John and the casualty and thought "mmm...that's a long way down".