North Berwick and Dunbar RNLI in joint exercise

The charity’s D class inshore lifeboat, SUNIJO (D-891) based at North Berwick is often backed up by Dunbar’s ‘big boat’, a Trent class all weather lifeboat John Neville Taylor (14-35) as it can carry more survivors and tow larger vessels.

Helm of North Berwick Lifeboat for the exercise, Simon Cowan, said; ‘We work closely with Dunbar ALB on call outs where there is a need for the ALB’s specialised capabilities, or just extra crew members for a casualty care incident for example.’

‘There’ll nearly always be a need to transfer crew members, equipment or casualties between the two boats during an incident. It may seem strange, but the safest and most stable way of doing this is whilst the two boats are underway, known as a slow speed transfer.’

‘With a strong offshore wind on Sunday our crew had a really good exercise in keeping pace alongside the much bigger ALB in a short, sharp chop. There’s a reason our helmets have visors!’

‘We were also able to exercise transferring our rescue manikin to and from the ALB whilst it was in a stretcher, a task requiring precise communication between the two crews. I’d like to thank the Dunbar volunteers for giving us the opportunity to practice these skills.’

‘We last worked with Dunbar ALB back in February, though on a call out there is never much time to catch up, so another benefit of the exercise was catching up with the crew, some who are former crew members from North Berwick!’

Notes to editors

• It cost £1,360 a year to train each crew member in the lifesaving skills they need to answer the call for help
• 97% of the RNLI’s frontline lifesavers are volunteers including over 5,700 lifeboat crew members.

RNLI media contacts

Matthew Gibbons, Deputy Lifeboat Press Officer, North Berwick, [email protected]
Richard Smith, RNLI Regional Communications Manager for Scotland, 07826 900639, [email protected]
Martin Macnamara, RNLI Regional Communications Lead for Scotland, 07920 365929, [email protected]
24 hour RNLI Central Press Office, 01202 336789 or email [email protected]

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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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