Training

Training tonight....................

We start the year as we mean to carry on, tonight its the 1st session for 1st aid to be followed up with another 2 sessions which will include the assessment with the Sector Manager.

Other training this year will be, more rope work, water rescue, driving, and a big project on local knowledge. We will tell you more about this project as it happens.

Lads....time to put the colouring books away!

Portland Coastguard (MRCC) and the Kayakers

The Dorset Echo report on the kayakers; again this incident reinforces how important local MRCCs are to your Coastguard service:-


Coastguard watch manager Ros Evans told the Dorset Echo: “Knowledge of the local area is very important but it’s also having that awareness of the area.We all live locally and from the minute we leave our homes we know what the wind is doing and what the tides and Race are doing.”
She added: “With our local knowledge we know which is the most appropriate lifeboat to use and how to task the resources.
“We know which coastguards live nearest the hospital to go and organise the helicopter landing site.
All this can be taught but it takes years before it becomes an instinct.”

She said: “They were extremely lucky. We are really glad they are all right.


If you have views about the reorganisation of MRCC's in the UK please take a look at the Consultation document on the right hand side of this blog.

Stats

Its that time of year again when the figures are added up and we reflect on 2010.

I would like to start with a huge thank you to the team, 2010 was an outstanding year with incidents up to figures we have never seen before. The support from the families and the community of Swanage was brilliant. Special thanks go to St Albans Coastguard for backing us on a number of occasions, Swanage Police and Swanage Ambulance crews,NCI Swanage and all the crew at Swanage Lifeboat.

Incidents 2010 - 165 compared to 112 in 2009

5 EOD incidents

11 Incidents involving animals (mostly dogs fallen from cliffs)

69 Marine incidents

9 Miscellaneous incidents

3 Pollution incidents

6 Cliff incidents

23 Medical incidents

4 Investigations

9 Searches for missing people

26 Minor incidents - incidents where the team dealt with someone but not logged by the MRCC

The full team were called out 14 times

The MRU drove 2549 miles

Austen was called out the most (or created more incidents) 68

Sunday at 2pm remains our busiest time for call outs

We haven't been called out between 03.30 and 04.30 in five years

Wednesday's remain the quietest day in the week.

2469 hours of Coastguard work was put in during 2010 by the volunteer team.

Eric is the eldest in the team, Rid the youngest.

Busy start to 2011

After the two rescues mentioned in our last entry, the ops team at Portland MRCC have been busy again today according to this BBC news story

Another busy day at Portland MRCC

Portland MRCC staff had another busy afternoon yesterday.

1st down at Lulworth with a dog and owner over the cliff.

http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga07-home/newsandpublications/press-releases.htm?id=04FBD832ED445906&m=1&y=2011

Then off Portland Bill in the tide race 16 kayakers got in trouble. 2 rescue helicopters, 2 lifeboats, Customs cutter, Portland Bill Coastguard, NCI Portland, Wyke Coastguard, a Sector Manager, South Western Ambulance all got involved.

http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga07-home/newsandpublications/press-releases.htm?id=17F5E2E07997592B&m=1&y=2011

Standards

The other evening I popped up the station to check the building and found the truck in a muddy state! In fairness the IRT had been out until 23.00 the night before and its not the best time to clean the vehicle and upset the neighbours.

Thankfully within an hour the vehicle was back to proper standard, clean, tidy and ready to go.

Fog

The fog last Wednesday.......in the distance is Ocean Bay.

This picture reminded me of the incident last year when the patrol was out on Ballard Down and came involved in quite a few lost runners. The fog had set in and made the route rather tricky with runners confused where the next check point was.

As we start a new year are you thinking of organising an event in a coastal area? If so perhaps as part of your risk assessment you contact your local Coastguard MRCC for some advice? Its free and may just save a call out during your event.

Our local MRCC is Portland Coastguard and they can be contacted on 01305 760439. (this number is for non emergency calls) For readers around the rest of the country please contact you local MRCC, the number will be in the phone book or at http://www.mcga.gov.uk/

Questions

Someone left some questions on one of our blogs earlier. (They are doing a project on the emergency services, good they have picked the Coastguard in my book!)

When did you become Station Officer?

On checking the records (I was quite surprised) 20th July 2002, Austen become Deputy Station Officer 1st May 2007

Have you received any certificates or awards for any rescues?

Tricky to answer this one as I'm not sure how far back you want us to go so will cover the period of our longest servicing member (John Bentham).

John was part of the team when they recovered the body of a climber in 1988 which they received a Chief Coastguards Commendation.

Ian received a letter from the District Control (1997) for the rescue of a swimmer at Studland

John received a letter from the Chief Coastguard for his work at Portland MRCC during the Napoli incident.

Ian received a letter from the Chief Coastguard for the work done to get the new Station.

Ian presented with a Paul Harris Fellow award from the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International in 2010 for work in the community.

John Bentham will be presented his Clasp to his 20 year long service medal for completion of 30 years service to the Coastguard Rescue Service. (waiting for him to get well)

Ian will be presented his long service medal for 20 years service (waiting for it to be minted!)

I think that's about it, thankfully the question wasn't how many telling offs have you had.....!

Do all MRU's (our vehicles) have the name of the station on the front doors?

This is an unofficial thing that some Coastguard teams do once the vehicle arrives on station. Its not something the Coastguard Service provide but done under a local agreement and cost.
As mentioned in the flag pole blog, the Coastguard has nearly 200 years of traditions and teams are fiercely proud of their patch and equipment. If you look at very old photos of the LSA teams they use to have their station names on their carts and slowly in modern times this tradition has come back. There is a slight problem with this as sometime vehicles are needed to be swapped about for various reasons!

Finishing touches

This morning some of the team met at the station for a New Year coffee.

We took sometime out to put together our flag pole for the first time. The flag pole was given to us by the family of the late Ian Surface who passed away in 2009.

When the Chief Coastguard opened the station in Feburary 2008, he touched on the fine traditions of the Coastguard Service, something here at Swanage we are very keen to continue.
All Coastguard stations use to have flag poles and when we had the new building it was something we felt was missed but very important to mark events

So at last in memory of a long serving Auxiliary In Charge (now known as a station officer) the station has a flag pole that can be put up (its not a fixed structure) to mark official events.

New Year

New Year's Day and the team met to compare who had the best Christmas presents. Tom was struggling with his new heavy duty fishing rod whilst Gareth is so pleased with his tea mug he hasn't put it down since Boxing Day.

Full details of what was really happening will follow, courtesy of the boss. In the meantime, Happy New Year to all our readers.