CAPSIZE TRAINING FOR LIFEBOAT CREW

A crew from the Hartlepool lifeboat were put through their paces in August when a mobile crane was brought in to capsize its Atlantic B class lifeboat with the crew on board in the marina. They were then taught how to right the boat safely and restart it along with sea survival techniques. Robin Warrington, the RNLI's training divisional inspector for the northern area, said that it is a vital part of the crews training and it had to be carried out locally to enable lifeboat cover to be maintained at the two lifeboat stations. He said, "A capsize is an extremely rare occurrence but it is essential that all new crew members know exactly how to react, if it does happen. The RNLI is committed to giving our volunteer crew the very best possible training to ensure that when they are saving lives at sea, they do so in the safest and surest way possible."

This was the first time that such training has taken place away from the RNLI's inshore lifeboat training centre on the south coast. It also proved to be of interest to quite a number of visitors to the marina, and showed how professional the lifeboat crews actually are. Not that we doubted it for one second!