14 year old airlifted from Studland Beach

Dorset Police and South Western Ambulance requested Coastguard assistance at Knoll Beach Studland after a 14 year old male had been reported missing.

The male was located in the sand dunes  but found to have a dislocated knee along with possible neck and spinal injuries.

Due to the location, the injury and the temperature the Coastguard team requested a helicopter evacuation ,so the National Maritime Operations Centre tasked Rescue 106 from Portland.

With the help of the National Trust , a safe landing area was secured and the services all worked hard to ensure a speedy and safe evacuation.  Rescue 106 flew to the Poole landing site at Whitecliffe where they were met by Poole Coastguard.

All services left the beach just before 7pm

Mystery object found on beach

An off duty Chris walking on the beach spotted this yesterday.


(The rusty pipe not the can, the can is used for sizing)

Chris sent the National Maritime Operations Centre some photos of the object which they sent to the bomb disposal team.

Previous similar looking items have been old wartime defences , rusty pipes or typhoon fighter rockets used off Studland during the Second World War.

Thankfully the experts came back and confirmed the object was a piece of scaffold.

Water Rescue Training

This weekend the team will be training in water rescue, hopefully the sea will be a bit rough and cold! I say that as I'm watching this weekend rather than taking part!

It's a bit like coasteering in a sense.

To ensure safety, the team check the weather conditions and the tide times before training; and then check again on the local conditions before we get in the water. A safe place is found to access, and more importantly a safe place to exit bearing in mind the rise and fall of the tide.

If it's too rough we simply don't train - there's no point putting people at risk.

A full drysuit and buoyancy aid is worn along with a helmet and gloves - the same basic kit that would normally be used for Coasteering.

We ensure that there are spotters (known as surface cover) to watch over us, with throw lines, again basic Coasteering techniques.

Thank You - The Crows Nest Inn, Swanage.

A quick thank you to - The Crows Nest Inn, Swanage.

The Swanage and St Albans Coastguard teams deployed for search operations at approximately 23:00 last night and searched through to 04:00 before standing down for some rest. The teams stood up again this morning to resume the search. 

At about 14:00 this afternoon the search teams were ready to return to station for a quick break and a decision was taken to provide lunch and refreshments to allow the search to continue.

Being a Sunday afternoon options were slightly limited so a team member popped over to The Crows Nest (For those readers not familiar with Swanage, our local pub) to see if they could assist with 25 or so hot meals. It was very short notice but we thought publican Sam Ogden might be able to assist. 

Sam was in the middle of serving up a Crows Nest Sunday Lunch and with a full restaurant he couldn't help directly. 

However - and I think this is a top drawer response - he offered money to buy the Coastguard Team's fish and chips from other premises in town. 

A very generous offer!  

A moment later we heard that the missing person was found safe and we could stand-down search operations. 

Whilst on this occasion we didn't take him up on his kind offer, the teams would like to thank Sam and his team at The Crows Nest Inn anyway.

The Crows Nest Inn

Throwing Shapes

Coastguard Terry has a special Coastguard pose every time he's on a search or cliff rescue. We thought it was something that came naturally but now we've been sent some evidence that it's something he practices seriously. It's even better when it's his turn to wear the 'Frozen' dress, which is generally on Tuesday; watch this space.

Caption: Terry 'Throwing a Teapot'.

The Word Up is that he might make a Cameo later this week. 

*Posted on behalf of Occassional Blog.

Time for a Cuppa?

Kerry led our training this week - a session on vertical rescue, which, different from a cliff rescue, we might use for recovering a person fallen through a hole through a pier or in between rocks in rock armour.

In this scenario, Nick was the technician deployed on the rope, but I can't help thinking he's treating it all a bit casually.

Careful, don't spill it!

Silver Jubilee

Back in 1977, when I was a youngster I remember the celebrations for the Queen's Silver Jubilee.  I didn't really know what it was all about, but I do recall there was a street party in the road outside, my mum bought us a union jack T-shirt, and we had  day off school.

We had a Silver Jubilee of our own yesterday, and although no street parties or days off school (I think I still have the T-shirt) this silver jubilee was equally as important - certainly for our Station Officer, Ian Brown.

Yep, 25 years ago yesterday, a fresh faced young lad, knee high to a grass hopper but sky high with enthusiasm joined the team at Peveril Point as Swanage 196.  Now, as Station Officer and having overseen the move to our new Station at North Beach Car Park, he's still just as full of enthusiasm and just as dedicated although certainly no taller and not quite so fresh faced.

We'll have a look at some of the rescues Ian's been involved in in the coming days (when we can't think what else to write) but for the meantime we couldn't let the occasion slip by unnoticed.

So, from all your friends and colleagues, Congratulations Ian, and thanks for the hours of voluntary service that you have given to the people and town of Swanage.

Swanage 196 on patrol on his first day a long time ago

Previously on the Coastguard Blog....Flares dumped at Coastguard Station.

I was talking to friend, following the blog on Tuesday, who asked why we don't take old flares and pyrotechnics at the Swanage Station - the simple answer is that we are not equipped to store them safely, and we are in a residential area. 

It reminded me of an incident that we reported 15 July 2012 when a bag of flares was left at the station door. We turned up to the station for training , found the bag, opened the bag, put it down very gently, and walked away very quickly. We had to evacuate the building for a short period while we formed a plan to dispose of them. 

Previous blog below:-

This is one of the flares that was dumped at the Coastguard station this week and caused an incident.
It's against the law to use flares in a non-emergency situation or dump them at sea. You also must not discard them irresponsibly - never:

• put flares in carrier bags or drop them in general household rubbish or public litter bins
• leave flares on the doorstep of coastguard rescue equipment stores, sector bases or Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) lifeboat houses
• dump them anywhere where members of the public could come across them

So based on the law above, "the offender" broke all 3 of the above points.  What is really worrying is the state of the flare, its either been close to a heat source or some sort of chemical - what ever it was it could have made it explode.

These flares WILL KILL if used incorrectly.

There are ways to dispose of time expired pyrotechnics correctly, clearly whoever left them couldn't be bothered , instead putting lives at risk by their actions.

Flare on the beach

The team were tasked this afternoon to a report of a flare washed up on the beach at Studland.

A pen is used as a 'gauge' to show the EOD Team the size of the item

A detailed check was carried out as the type of flare couldn't be identified.

Having liaised with an EOD Team the item was transported to the flare collection point at Poole which is at the RNLI college for the Dorset area.


----

'If you want to hand over time-expired pyrotechnics, like distress flares, for safe disposal you must contact your nearest centre to make an appointment.

RNLI Security Gatehouse

Corner of West Quay Road and Slip Way

Poole

Dorset

BH15 1HZ

Telephone: 01202 336336

Open: Monday–Sunday; 1000–1130 and 1400–1600

Please note they only accept pyrotechnics from recreational water users and disposal is by appointment only so please phone in advance.

When you phone, please be ready to give details of the type, quantity, age and condition of your time-expired pyrotechnics.

It is an offence to dispose of flares at sea or in the general refuse, or to let flares off in a non-distress situation.' (Poole-RNLI)

Amazing sunsets

Some amazing sunsets this week.