Lochinver

James Bissett from North of the border sent these photos recently:

The attached photos were taken at Ullapool on 12th July 2008. The Lochinver lifeboat was doing a demonstration with the Stornoway Coastguard helicopter.

They made a few runs transferring crew from boat to helicopter and back.

It was pretty cool to see, however I’d rather not be the person dangling on the bit of rope!

Many thanks James...stunning photos.

Whitby Flagday

I was delighted last week to receive this set of photos from Peter Hebron. Particularly so because they show lifeboats (both from the RNLI and an Independent station) which cover my home territory of North Yorkshire.

Living Between Barnsley and Wakefield in South Yorkshire we don't see many Lifeboats!!

Our visit to Whitby came at the request of my son and daughter who wanted to take dad for a run out on fathers day.

My interest in the RNLI comes from my childhood when we lived at Stainton village (next to a few houses a farm and Hospital that has now grown into a huge place called Hemlington) My Father and Mother were both born at Loftus where I spent a lot of time with my Grand parents.

Regular trips were made to Redcar and Whitby which were never complete without a visit to the Lifeboats.

Thanks for sharing this with us Peter...a really pleasantly nostalgic journey for me at least!

Ramsey

I happened upon this site yesterday and realised that there was one more lifeboat blogger out there in the world. Anyway, here are a few shots blurgled from Pete's site (with his permission). There are many more so head over there and loose yourself for a while.

So this is Ramsey lifeboat, a carriage launched Mersey heading down it's slipway presumably on their lifeboat day?

I've never visited the Isle of Man but from Pete's photos it certainly looks like a superb place to visit. Perhaps by kayak one day?

Anyway, it got me thinking...how many more lifeboat blogs are there? I've found a few but there must be more. If you know of any please let me know!

La Manche

So here's the one that gave me the idea of a new blog, during the summer one of our local vicars Will Watts sent me this mail after a trip across the channel to France:

Hi John

Here's another in the series: Lifeboat Stations of the World
(you'll have to start another blog!)

We went to France yesterday (again! Oh the joys of only working on Sundays!) and visited Goury in the NW corner of the Cherbourg peninsula.
It has what must one of the most unusual lifeboat stations in the world.

The octagonal building has two ramps - one going into the harbour and the other going directly into the sea. The lifeboat is housed on a cradle on a turntable which can be aligned to either ramp depending on the state of the tide/wind.


Unfortunately they were just closing for lunch so the interior pic was only hurriedly snatched but I hope the others make it clear.

Quite what the point is, I'm not sure. Wouldn't the tide be the same height on both ramps? Why not just have the one into the harbour?

Maybe Swanage station could be rebuilt further our towards Peveril Point and have a ramp going down both sides?!

Anyway, hope you find them interesting and that they whet your appetite for a trip across the Channel!

Will

St. Agnes

Long time lifeboat supporter and newly qualified Doctor Mark Savage sent these photos and words about St.Agnes lifeboat:

My sons and I have a keen interest in most maritime things, particularly the boats, crews and the work of the RNLI. We regularly visit local stations in Norfolk and enjoy viewing and photographing the boats, as well as purchases in the gift shops.

On a family holiday in Cornwall this year we accidentally discovered a station we had not previously heard of, St Agnes.

They operate a D class inshore lifeboat, the sheds being a bit further down the hill from the main building.

At the end of our afternoon on the beach it looked like they might launch and we waited for a bit, but alas nothing came of it otherwise there would have been a film to go with this.

Many thanks Dr Mark for sharing these with us and we look forwards to submissions from the southern hemisphere when you finally get there.

Port Isaac

Mike Streeter took these photos while on holiday in Cornwall.

Port Isaac has a D Class, launched by quad.




As you can see from one of the shots there is not a lot of water in the harbour at low tide, quite a long tow to launch. The harbour is used as a car park at low water!

The old lifeboat house at Port Isaac was actually about a quarter of a mile from the harbour midway up a very narrow street. Apparently the boat was manhandled down the street on a carriage. Must have been fun.

Thanks Mike for these words and pictures.

If anyone out there reading this (lifeboat tourists, crew, Headquarters staff or full time employees such as station mechanics also has lifeboat photos (Uk or international) which they would like to share on here, please email them to me at lifeboat365@gmail.com They are more likely to be included if they are accompanied by some interesting words!