£1M support helps fund local lifesaver at Exmouth RNLI
A new volunteer crew member at Exmouth RNLI lifeboat station has had a vital part of their crew training funded by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation. The course immediately followed an intensive period of Shannon class lifeboat familiarisation at Exmouth.
Tim Barnes, 36 from Exmouth, recently travelled to the RNLI College in Poole, Dorset, to complete the charity’s Trainee Crew Course.
A key part of that course is the sea survival element, which enables new volunteer crew to be trained in a variety of crucial subjects including how to ‘abandon ship’ with a 4m jump into water; team survival swimming and coping in a liferaft in simulated darkness; how to deal with fires aboard lifeboats; how to right a capsized inshore lifeboat; and the importance of lifejackets.
Training took place in the Sea Survival Centre at the RNLI College in Poole, which includes a 25m long wave-generating survival tank, allowing trainees to experience first-hand some of the scenarios they may encounter at sea should they ever need to abandon their lifeboat.
The week-long Lifeboat College training course followed an intensive period of training on Exmouth RNLI’s new Shannon class lifeboat R and J Welburn, closer to home. Tim is one of many crew volunteers at Exmouth RNLI who made extra commitment to familiarising themselves with their new state-of-the-art lifeboat. Teams of volunteers spent approximately nine hours a day aboard the new Shannon class learning new drills under the watchful eyes of RNLI trainers.
Tim, took a week away from his Fish and Chip shop business especially for the residential course at Poole.
He comments; ‘I had a great time – I thought the course was amazing and expertly run. I enjoyed meeting other trainee crew volunteers from all sorts of different backgrounds. The course has given me a firm starting block for the rest of my training with the charity that saves lives at sea.’
