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During our visit to the West Country on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary Rally
of the Seal Sailing Association, Jan and Graham from Heart of Glass and Mary and
I from Farrago took the opportunity, while in Brixham, to visit the Coastguard Station.
We had been told that they were very welcoming to visiting Yachtsmen and this proved
to be the case.
We were met at the door by one of the officers who took us straight to the Operations
Room where we met the other officers on duty. That day there was four of them, the
senior officer was on leave. Most of the staff had Service backgrounds, although
one lady, a Dane (with no trace of an accent), had been a trawler skipper!
Firstly, we were shown the very large wall chart that detailed the areas of the
sea for which they and their neighbouring stations had responsibility, extending
from Portland to Lands End and including the French coast and the Channel Islands.
The chant also marked the facilities at their disposal including Lifeboats, Inshore
Rescue craft, helicopters, sub-stations, cliff rescue teams etc. The room had a
number of work stations each with telephone switching facilities, marine VHF with
control systems for the many aerials, computer terminals and no doubt many more
pieces of equipment that I am unable to recall. There was a Met. desk - Brixham
also being a Met station supplying weather information from Berry Head to the Met
Centre. The conditions at Berry Head are recorded hourly.
We were shown another terminal with the latest software that was used to help with
searches at sea. The computer is fed with the current weather and type of object
being sought (a life raft will drift faster than a man in the water or a yacht),
the position and many other bits of information. With its own built-in tidal information
it then calculates the expected drift and suggests the areas to be searched. We
saw the direction finding equipment, and our guide explained how it had been used
recently when two German ladies sailing across the Atlantic had radioed for assistance
to guide them into the Dart, their position being given as at the river mouth. A
local fishing boat offered to help but could not find the yacht. The RDF equipment
was then used and the ladies were located in the middle of Tor Bay!
Lastly we were shown the computer which will handle the new GMDSS system. Our guide
explained that he was not yet up to speed with this and so it still remains a mystery
to me how it will affect the yachtsman.
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At this point our guide said that an alarm that we could hear was a 99999 call and
he had to leave us to assist his two colleagues who were then in the room. The emergency
was a child being blown out to sea on an airbed from a local beach. Initially the
local Inshore Lifeboat was called, on channels 16 and 0, but after what seemed like
several minutes it was clear that they were going to get no answer. It was then
decided to make the incident a Pan Pan. A telephone call was made back to the number
given by the Telephone Operator, and from this they established that the child was
still in sight and was near one of the yellow speed limit buoys. The Pan Pan was
transmitted for any vessels in the area that might be able to help to assist. Very
soon, but what must have seemed like an age to the anxious parents, there was a
response from an RAF rescue launch. With only a brief query made by raising the
eyebrows and a nod from the acting senior officer, the channel 16 operator requested
the launch to proceed to the area. There was then another call from a vessel, which
we took to be a pleasure boat, which was near the spot. This boat was then asked
to search for the child. The skipper asked for more information and was able to
report within seconds that they had the 'casualty9 in sight and in moments
the child had been rescued. The vessel then went into the beach and handed the child
back to very relieved parents. Minutes later a telephone call from a local Coastguard,
who had gone to the location, confirmed the successful conclusion to the emergency.
The rescuer was duly thanked and proceeded about his business.
The whole event was then explained to us from the log on the computer with the precise
times, and it was less than 20 minutes from beginning to end. Although there were
apologies to us for having left us to our own devices, we said that we were very
grateful to have witnessed the event. The complete professionalism displayed by
the staff, and how they all worked together with hardly a word spoken between them
impressed me. We never did find out what the Inshore Lifeboat was doing.
We were encouraged, if we had not already done so, to file our boat details with
our local station. This is form CG6O I think, on which details of the type and colour
of boat, life-raft etc. are given so that if they ever have to organise a search
for us they know what to look for. Finally they encouraged us to advise them of
our passage details the next day on our crossing of Lyme Bay back to Poole.
What a wonderful service they provide!
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