It’s been a very long time since I have written anything, it’s fair to say that life with a small one has left me with little time spare in the day!

On Sunday 27th December, I left my daughter in the capable hands of her Daddy, surrounded by the remnants of our small family Christmas and headed out for what was only my second lifeboat duty of the year. My first was in August when my daughter was 6 months old, but unfortunately her Daddy has been away at sea for much of the second half of the year so with no childcare, I have had to take a backseat from operational duties.

It was great to get back in the seat on Sunday. There have been a few changes since I was last on duty. The weather and covid state being just two things! We have some new kit. Dry bags! Previously, we have worn all weather trousers and jackets with the traditional yellow wellies. This is great kit for the cold winter days, but not so great if you need to get into the water with a casualty or to get lines onto a casualty vessel. So Sunday was spent getting used to spending the day in a dry bag and the challenges that brings!

As Hampshire is in Tier 4, the water, as expected was very quiet, and so our day was spent conducting maintenance runs on the boat, with a little familiarisation of the Solent’s buoyage. The remaining time was spent at the station, until it was time to return the boat to the dry dock ready for the overnight pager crew. As I drove the boat back onto the dry dock, I commented that it was an eerily still night, the water was still, no wind and slack water and the moon was up, reflecting in the water. The kind of night when you get a shout as you least expect it.

That shout came around 8pm, dealt with by the first pager crew on scene. A concern for welfare shout, with the boat tasked to standby and provide assistance if required.

I was well into bedtime routine with my daughter at that point. After having spent the day away from her, and with enough crew responding, she had to come first! It’s very hard to leave her, but something I’m about to get used to, as I return to full time work in January. The smiles and cuddles I came home to made up for the time away though!

I have to say though, that despite not being on operational duties for much of the year, I have been incredibly busy behind the scenes with the fundraising team. Our latest venture was our online Christmas raffle which raised over £1850. That on top of our 2021 calendars and Christmas cards and our venture into online sales has kept me on my toes!

Hopefully 2021 will bring a bit more operational service, but I’m going to spend the first few months adjusting to being back at work full time and then get back into duties in April. No doubt the Easter Raffle that we have planned will keep me busy until then!

So here we are, in the midst of the Coronavirus outbreak, all seeking out ways to entertain ourselves whilst responsibly socially distancing ourselves. I am sat feeding my daughter, watching saving lives at sea, hearing the story of one crew in Loch Ness and his first pager shout.

Whilst that is an RNLI crew, our pager system is exactly the same, so I thought I’d give you some light relief from Coronavirus updates and tell you the story of my first pager shout.

I joined the crew in August 2016, after my initial training period and crew assessment, I was presented with my pager and personal kit on a Wednesday drill night in November.

In those days, we had an allocated pager crew for Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. I took my turn on pager duties, often going to bed fully clothed, anticipating a middle of the night page, and not wanting to delay my response by having to stop to get dressed!

Almost two months went by, and still each night of duty there was a nervous anticipation of waiting for the alarm to sound! Christmas came and went, with no calls and I was beginning to think it would never go off! Then, one night with my parents visiting, we decided to pop to the local pub for a quick drink. It was December 30th and a freezing cold night. As I was on pager duty, I drove to the pub (very lazy as it is literally around the corner!) dressed in a mini skirt and blouse and a face full of makeup, I had my kit in the car just in case, but was not expecting a shout. Nonetheless I’d asked my parents to pick up the spare key on the way out just in case.

I had been chatting to the landlady about my role on the lifeboat and how I’d ‘not had a shout yet’ and having just ordered my second non alcoholic beer, turned around to leave the bar when my pager went off.

As adrenaline set in, and I started running for the door, my dad piped up that they hadn’t got the spare key!! (Lesson learnt by them!).

Arriving at the station, I kitted up and made my way to the boat. We were off to a vessel on fire in Southampton Water, I joked that I must be the best dressed person on the Solent! Luckily I had a few warm layers ready in the car.

All those nights of sleeping in clothes ready to go, and the one time the pager went off, I was wearing the most inappropriate outfits! Lesson learnt for me!!

My pager has gone off many times since. The adrenaline still pumps through your body, but never quite so much as the first time!

Hamble Lifeboat remains business as usual through the coronovirus outbreak. Whilst we have curtailed our standard patrols, our pagers remain switched on, and our crew ready to respond.

I hope you all stay safe and well and we hope to see you all back out on the water soon.

It’s been a couple of weeks since writing my first blog, and what a couple of weeks they have been!

One of the most important things about being a lifeboat crew member is being able to put your complete trust in your crew mates. A relationship that like any, grows with time, and one which is vital when operating in challenging conditions or when dealing with a difficult situation. I consider my lifeboat colleagues to be an extension of my family. The team are not just there for each other when out on the boat, but provide an important support network behind the scenes as well. This is something that I am certain will be common amongst all lifeboat crews, whether RNLI, or an independent lifeboat service such as ourselves.

I have been off the active crew list for a few months now, not because I have not wanted to, but because I became pregnant with our first child in May 2019. Our little embryo took part in a couple of pager shouts and a planned duty before we knew she was hiding in there, but once we knew, it wasn’t safe for me to continue crewing.

I dreaded telling the Lifeboat Operations Manager, and my fellow crew, but they could not have been more supportive, which just highlights the sense of family that we have. I remained close to the crew throughout my ‘pregnancy ’, visiting the station at weekends, helping with fundraising ventures and creating our 2020 calendar with the help of another crew member Chris. I have also now accepted the post of Fundraising Manager whilst I settle into life as a new Mum, pending getting back out onto the water!

Our baby girl Eleanor Rose was born on 3 Feb 2020. The crew were amongst the first people that we told, so it seemed only right that she was introduced to them at the training night 2 days after her birth. Her lifeboat uncles and aunts were delighted to meet her, and already have her yellow wellies and life jacket on order.

So what next? Both mum and dad are looking forward to the months and years ahead with our precious bundle. Eleanor is looking forward to her first trip on the boat (an alongside visit to start with!), Mum is thinking up new fundraising ideas while standing the middle watch feeding routine and looking forward to getting back out as active crew later in the year.

Hamble Lifeboat is an independent lifeboat which was set up in 1968 in response to a number of deaths on and around the river Hamble and Southampton Water. In 2019, Hamble Lifeboat responded to 105 coastguard incidents. The service relies on the generosity of local people to survive (we receive no funding from the RNLI).

If you would like to donate, please visit https://www.justgiving.com/hamblelifeboat

As a lifeboat crew member, you never know what is going to happen during the 9 hours that you are on watch. What can seem to be a quiet, uneventful day on the Solent, can quickly turn into one of the toughest days you will ever get.  That is exactly what happened to us on 6 April 2019 – a date that I will never forget. 

The day began for us in the usual way – boat maintenance,equipment checks, a brief on the local conditions, events in the Solent and a Risk Assessment for the day based on what we thought might be a likely tasking.  As April is the start of the ‘summer season’ we tend to think more about potential mechanical issues. With boats being in the water for the first time that year leading to fires and floods, injuries from inexperienced crew members and the possibility of groundings. 

April 6^th was a significant day for the service too – our Senior coxswain, Brian, had decided to step down from regular duties to spend more time with his young family. Whilst he would remain senior coxswain, he would only be reacting to pager shouts from then on.  To mark this, during our routine patrol of the Solent, we stopped off at Cowes and picked up some fish and chips. We then went off to do some manoeuvring and a man overboard drill in Southampton Water.  At about 1600 we were back alongside Hamble quay. We debriefed, cleaned up the lifeboat station and prepared the boat for the pager crew that evening. 

Minutes before our duty was due to end, with the switch to pager crew imminent, a shout came in. A person in the water at the North end of Southampton Water.  Our coxswain proceeded at speed out of the River Hamble and up Southampton Water. Whilst on route, I was ‘on comms’ with Solent Coastguard passing tasking info to the crew, talking through possible scenarios and prepping the kit that we would likely need on scene.

On arrival, we saw the local Coastguard Rescue team on the shore, with helicopter ‘Rescue 175’ overhead. Between them, they vectored us onto the casualty in the water.  It was low water. The casualty was in the shallows. Recovery was going to be difficult.  After an attempt to deploy a crewmember into the water failed due to the amount of mud in the vicinity, our coxswain made the difficult decision to run the boat aground.This enabled us to get as close as possible to the casualty, who was face down in the water.  I pulled the casualty from the water. Once in the boat, I immediately started CPR, whilst the remaining crew members grabbed the defibrillator and oxygen.  We were joined by a member of the SCAS Hazardous Area Response Team (HART). What ensued was 40 minutes of the most amazing teamwork; getting the boat off the mud, working on the casualty and eventually handing over to the HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Service) team ashore. 

It was only then that we started to think about what had just happened, but with a boat that needed some urgent maintenance (removing thick mud from the filters) prior to being able to safely transit back to Hamble, we still had considerable work to do. 

I first saw the picture below at our Crew annual review.  Until then, I had no idea that it had even been taken! To me, it sums up how we all felt after that job.  I’m not going to try to describe that feeling. I think the picture tells it all.  

Needless to say, I could not have worked with a better crew that day. 

Five weeks later, when 3 of the 4 crew involved walked around the Isle of Wight raising money for the lifeboat, we had an opportunity to discuss how we all felt after the incidentand how it had affected us all individually.  I am grateful for the support provided to me by my colleagues and also the TRiM (Trauma Risk Management) process which I went through. As a result, I have now trained as a TRiMPractitioner – the first for Hamble Lifeboat, so that I will be able to offer my lifeboat colleagues the same level of support that I received in any future traumatic incidents.    

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