Torbay RNLI and Royal Navy conduct joint sea exercise
Last Friday 10th October, Torbay RNLI's volunteers practiced a sea to air casualty transfer with a Royal Navy Merlin helicopter team from RNAS Yeovilton.
An RNLI crew member captured this tricky manoeuvre on film, highlighting the intricacies and dangers involved as two skilled teams coordinate their powerful machines at speed to drop a winchman, followed by stretcher, from one to the other before returning back.
The whole exercise lasted approximately 2-hours. Over its duration the lifeboat ran four 5-mile legs at over 10 knots heading into wind, with each leg involving the same stretcher transfer.
RNLI training, which usually involves on-the-water exercises, forms a big part of life-boating whether at Torbay or any other of UK and Ireland’s 238 RNLI lifeboat stations. On this occasion, the All-weather Lifeboat’s seven crew included a good mix of experienced members with more recent volunteers facilitating what appears as a seamless interplay between lifeboat and helicopter but is in fact a complex and careful dance between two hefty life-saving machines.
Richard Fowler, acting coxswain’s take on proceedings: “At Torbay RNLI, we regularly work with helicopters. The Severn Class lifeboat is an ideal lifting platform for air-transfers to helos. These exercises mean we can confidently call for their assistance when we have casualties with severe injuries; be it major accidents far out at sea, remote cliff-falls along the coast, or divers suffering the bends and urgently needing the decompression chamber. We know we have the ability to get casualties far from home to the right medical attention faster when it’s really needed.”
Key facts about the RNLI
The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,700 lives.
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