It is raining and cold.

It is raining and cold. A bit like this summer.

We did have some sunny days! Like the one below at Sandy Bay.

Exmouth ILB

A pictures of the Exmouth RNLI Inshore Lifeboat.

We worked very well with both the All Weather Lifeboat and the Inshore Lifeboat on quite a few occasions. We mainly had to work with the All Weather Lifeboat while undertaking searches.

Exmouth ILB on its launch trailer on the slipway ready for service.

First Aid kits!

We have quite a sellection of First Aid kits in our Lifeguard hut.

We all carry a personal bumbag and radio. Our bum bags contain a small selection of plasters, bandages, a pocket mask for CPR, small scissors, a note book and pen and a few other bits and pieces. We then have three other first aid kits as shown in the picture above.

Starting at the top of the picture we have our general First Aid kits. The two green bags contain a selection of plasters and bandages, saline eye wash, tough cut scissors, normal scissors. Its similar to our bumbags but contains more of each item,

As I have mentioned before the big red bag is our responder bag/grab bag. The responder bag contains life saving kit. There is a Oxygen bottle across the bottom, a defib, various oxygen masks airways, neck collars and a few other bits of kit.  All the Lifeguards on the beach are all trained to use all the kit at the start of each season when we do our advanced first aid course.

Kites

As I have written about previously we rescued many kite surfers. Here is a picture showing quite a few kite surfers and wind surfers out enjoying the wind and sunshine!

In the picture you can see the sand bar in the background. This is where many of the kite and wind surfers land for a break or stop to sort their kit out.

The sand bar is also an attraction for swimmers that are unaware of the dangerous current between the beach and the bar. We rescued quite a few swimmers that didn’t realise the strength and speed of the current just off the beach.

We were luck enough to have two local kite surfers come down to the beach for one of our training sessions and show us a few diffrent bits of kite kit and help us refresh our skills on rescuing them.

How to pick up and put down a kite safely!

Kite cam!

It looks like we have been snaped by a local photographer “burtskitecam” using his kite camera as it says in the title!

Check out the two pictures of our hut taken by air!

Click the pictures to see more pictures take from the air in and around Exmouth!

Coastguard Press Release

I have just found a press release that mentions our assistance in the search we did back on the 1st September.

The press release can be found at:

http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/detail.asp?NewsAreaID=2&ReleaseID=377937

Seasons over.

The season has finished and we have finished packing the kit up at Exmouth and Sandy Bay.

As there won’t be anything incident wise to write about over the winter I will post up some pictures and info about our kit. I also have some pictures from the rescues we have done and will post them up over time.

The end of the season.

Today we finished on the beach for the season. We will be packing the huts kit away over the next couple of days, then our summer will be over.

The past week has been fairly eventful. We rescued more kite surfers, and tried to speak to all the kite surfers setting up and packing down on the beach, letting them know we finish today and reminding them to take care while out on the water.

We also had a hard training session on friday. The wind had been blowing all night, reaching force 11 at times. The surf is the biggest I have ever seen it in Exmouth with 6ft waves breaking right on to the beach. We launched the RWC to do some training in the rough conditions. Its important for us to train in all conditions so we can be confident in our abilities to rescue anyone at any time. As the tide dropped out the surf on the beach decreased and the weather got slightly better.

The weather was slightly better today, with sun all afternoon and lots of people walking on the beach.

At the end of each day we do an announcement on our PA system stating that the Lifeguard unit is closed and to call 999 in an emergency on the beach or at sea. Today the announcemen said “the Lifeguard unit is now closed untill May 2009. In an emergency please call 999″.

Let’s hope next season comes around quickly.

Surfs up and a window broken!

Although the Lifeguard season has finished at Sandy Bay a few of us headed there for a surf before work today. Whilst the surf was 3ft clean and awaited us eagerly, unfortunatly on the way down to the beach I noticed one of the windows on the Sandy Bay Lifeguard hut had been smashed. A morning of arranging for the police to come and check for evidence, and someone to come and board up the broken window unfolded. Its a shame to see the hut damaged, which will cost the RNLI charity money to repair. Luckily nothing was stolen from the hut and all the kit has now been removed.

Tonight there was still a small wave and Tuesday night training at Exmouth Beach Rescue was in the water so we managed to get a few waves before it got dark.

On Exmouth beach this afternoon we picked up one kite surfer out of the channel using the RWC. We seem to have picked up a lot of kite surfers over the season. I have a few ideas of how we can reduce the amount of rescues we have to do on them for next year. More to come on that soon!

A long search and a few rescues.

Just before midday we launched our RWC to assist Exmouth Inshore Lifeboat, all Weather Lifeboat and a Coastguard Rescue Helicopter search for a 14foot sailing dinghy with 2 adults and 2 young children aboard. Concern over their safety had been raised by some local fishermen and members of exmouth coastwatch after they had seen them from their observation tower. The dinghy was seen to head out of the river Exe in to very rough seas and strong winds. We launched our RWC and conducted a search for the boat and its ocupants with both Lifeboats heading towards Straight point at the far end of Sandy Bay. From here the RWC made its way back towards Exmouth searching the shoreline as they went. The search then moved further east outside of our operational area so the RWC returned to the Lifeguard Base at Exmouth after being on the water over an hour.

The dinghy was eventualy found at Lyme Regis by Lyme Regis Lifeboat crew who helped the 4 people out of the boat and took them ashore.

The full RNLI press release can be found on the RNLI website. www.rnli.org.uk or directly at:

http://www.rnli.org.uk/who_we_are/press_centre/news_releases/news_release_detail?articleid=367516

It is always advisable to check the weather, wear lifejackets and carry a VHF radio as a minimum if your heading out to sea.

The rest of our day did not go with out event. We launched the RWC to kite surfer who had got in to trouble when his kite dropped from the air in to the water. The kitesurfer and kite quickly started to be dragged seawards with the outgoing spring tide. The RWC was launched quickly and assisted the surfer with his kit back to the shore. A further kite surfer was assisted by one of our Lifeguards whilst he was on a foot patrol. The kite surfer was having trouble with his kite and difficulties getting ashore safely. The Lifeguard assisted by collecting the kite from the water and helping the kitesurfer with the rest of his kit out of the water. Big spring tides increase the speed of the outgoing tide and can make parts of the Exe estuary very dangerous. Making sure you are aware of the tides and the risks of kite surfing before you go out it a very good idea!

Driving past the seafront tonight the sea looked very rough with waves breaking over the road in places and the tide surging up under our hut. If the weather is as bad tomorrow as it was today, tomorrow will be an intresting day.