Saving Lives At Sea - Season 4: Episode 1

we're an island nation drawn to the sea that surrounds us a playground for some for others it's where they make their living but the seas unpredictable it can change in an instant the sea takes no prisoners you always have to be prepared for Dwarfs the sea is a beast if you weren't anxious about it you're not doing the right job the water was freezing I was thinking I was gonna die there to save our lives is a volunteer army of over 5,000 ordinary people ready to leave their jobs their families and race to our rescue when the pages go off your heart stops is this a life-and-death situation one second could make a huge difference someone appalled what manner they've got that son or daughter the next minute the minute I didn't think we'd get them back I was just thinking just please are you parents the lifeboat crew that then there's no doubt about it with a loss that girl's equipped with their own cameras the crews give us a unique insight into every call-out as only they see it speeding into the roughest storms searching for people who may only have moments to live for those who risk their lives it has become a way of life if something goes wrong you could be the only person between there and death [Music] the most southerly lifeboat stations in the RNLI network are found on Jersey largest of the Channel Islands lying a hundred miles off the south coast of England but only 14 from the coast of France Jersey is an island with a geography and history all of its own we have quite a lot of elements that make the Channel Islands really different history is all around us from the castles to the German bunkers they were invaded and occupied during the Second World War it's the only part of the UK I think that was under German control we have a commercial port we have a fishing industry and we have a huge summertime leisure industry we were blessed with lovely beaches surrounded by nice clean seas it's a little bit of paradise in the channel I guess like all island communities Jersey has a very intimate and sometimes fraught relationship with the sea that surrounds it got one of the largest tidal ranges in the whales 12 meters of rise or full and that can happen in six hours at low tide the islands landmass is about 20% larger than it is at high tide simply because the tide goes out so far and so much shoreline coastline is exposed when it does say the tides will swell around the island they'll draw you away from the island you could quite easily end up in France mid-december winter grey skies rough rolling seas four seven winds and rising nepai - enough that day I knew that this had to be fairly serious I looked at the pager very sick Catherine's it was immediate launched immediate launch is imminent life at risk the DLA told us it was a canoeist that word capsized and was in the water I arrived at the station we met the casualties friend who was canoeing with him at the time started updating us on what would happened the casualty is Alan a canoeist who set off that morning with his stepfather Tim to take part in an extreme sport known as down wounding Bell wounding is a sports where you use the power of the wind and any swell to push you along using a specially designed canoe called an outrigger down winders seek out the kind of weather conditions most people avoid in order to surf the waves at high speeds the trip we had planned when the incident happened the wind strength was about 20 miles an hour and there was a swell running for us the conditions were good they went anywhere near the edge of our capabilities just before we got to gory Harbor out the corner of my eye I saw Alan get bounced by a wave I saw he'd come off his craft and landed on the armor cracking it got back onto his boat I could see that the armor was flexing in the middle with the armor broken and filling up with water it just pulled him back over the Outrigger arm gives these slender canoes their stability without it it's impossible to stay upright my initial thoughts then were we've got a problem I could see that he couldn't stay on the craft if I'd taken him on board my craft we could have both struggled why call to Alan and he said get the Coast Guard I got the radio and tried to make a call a mayday call but I got my reception back I got heard nothing back that's when I knew I had to go for help I made the decision to go for the lifeboat station and get Alan rescued from there I had to get to shore as quickly as I could to rescue him because too long in the water and he began hypothermic so there was some urgency and it was a serious time but he didn't well to get to shore and raise the alarm at that point you know that it's a really potentially serious shout person in the water a kayaker in the water it's December it wasn't warm and the sea was really really rough because of the extreme differences between high and low tide thus in Catherine's lifeboat an Atlantic 85 launches from a mobile trailer driven right into the sea which the forty mile an hour winds have now whipped up into three meter waves the responsibility for getting that boat away in a rough condition can be frightening have to be honest I was shaking a little bit because I thought this is going to be a tricky launch there was definitely an apprehension on my part as we went down the beach as you get down to the level of the waves you start to realize how much bigger there I've never seen blue water coming over the front of the boat before we've left the trailer not on the point where we're still sitting in the trailer and you've got a wave coming over in its entirety through the boat and you gave a couple of shouts to hold on as the first couple of waves came by and then you gave the command for the boys to let go the ropes once i've given that signal to go there's no turning back where we're going in they bow came up quite considerably and i was hoping it please stop coming up please stop coming up and we got to a fairly high angle almost in the vertical I was terrified that it might flip back into the trailer I'd say yes it was almost extreme launch it was the roughest I've ever launched it Kru now have to try and find one man in the mountainous sea we proceeded to the last reported location at the back of Gouri castle the seas were in from peak to trough were probably to half three meters on the waves so actually seeing anything is quite tricky because if you're in the bottom away if you can't see anything of them the waves around you [Music] the casualty has now been in the water for over half an hour with December sea temperatures in single figures he's running a high risk of hypothermia if you were not holding on to something able to keep your head above the water I think quite quickly you would succumb you'd lose energy and get tired and find yourself in a drowning situation [Music] the ways which is so big and so much whitewater that we really couldn't see much at all and your chances of locating just their head above the water is very very difficult this he was very lively Percy was a probably more than likely was angry like that at all that didn't really want to let go of the thing that's holding on to and when we got to the character to his last known position and we hadn't spotted him that's when you start to worry my Olin was out there he'd been in the water for over 40 minutes by this time so I was very concerned for him I think the sea was around about eight or nine degrees even in a wetsuit with that length of time hypothermia can creep in very very quickly the strong winds and currents plus the time the casualty has now spent in water means there's a danger he's been swept out to sea and a much larger search operation may be needed [Music] my hopes are finding him were diminishing when I decide to realizing the search area now had started to grow dramatically I had my finger just hovering over the transmit button back to request the calendar search plane be launched and the all-weather lifeboat be launched Sampson hey Lia when we were received a call from Jersey Coast Guard I service believed that identified a target in the water about a mile due north of our position the cruise speed to the new location aware that in these frigid seas the casualty is running out of time but instead of the casualty they find canoe wreckage I didn't know it was now tricky canoe and I didn't know what the situation was but then like a bit of a canoe and if that's the canoe where's the rest of it we then assumed that the the canoe had broken up I honestly thought there was a pretty good chance we'd be pull your body out it was it felt like that kind of that kind of day [Music] thank you finally 19 minutes after launching they spot the casualty he's now been in the water for almost an hour we've gotta solve the boat and myself in a Harrier grabs hold of him and and heaved him up it was really making sure that he was it was not a thermic and just keeping an eye on him really making sure that his condition didn't change drastically he was shivering he was breathing quite quite rapidly but we made sure that we're talking to him the main thing was just to get him out the conditions and and get him somewhere dry where we could warm them up really I was the best thing I've ever had seen how can that pay it was I was pretty tired by then it was just a lot of time by yourself just trying to hold on to the hold onto the craft and hoping that somebody will come and all I wanted to do was to get out of the water and yeah as soon as I sat down and they wrapped me up I was a lot happier so we made our way back down the coast to gory Harbor where we got the Casualty off and he was met by member of the Coast Guard and the fire service duty manager I made sure he was all right as soon as we got off the boat the shock set in the lifeboat crew saved my life really they go out and conditions that a lot of people who don't go out in we've done that job amazingly and they saved a life [Music] to save someone's life feels amazing it's it's second to no other emotion you know that you have done something selfless and that counts of a huge amount it was one of those jobs that you feel that you made a difference it was one-on-ones it was a lot of smiles at the station it's always a bus at a station when you feel that you've you've made a difference the lifeboat and crew saved Alan from a very very serious situation we try not to dwell on the what-ifs too much but yeah we know that it could have ended tragically this could have been a lot worse definitely if something had happened to to Tim's boat as well we probably wouldn't have made it if he couldn't get to the Coast Guard in time if we was the rom was longer and there was no way for him to get in earlier yeah it could definitely be in worse I could have definitely died [Music] Volunteers of every lifeboat crew are drawn from all walks of life and through the course of their extraordinary work form incredibly tight forms I've trust my crew members with my life and I do every time I go out you need to know that they're going to be there for you and you're working together and properly as a team they've got your back you've got their back okay go for it guys and it's the understanding that you don't work in there for yourselves use are there as a team three - the best part of the job is the Colorado team without them you couldn't do it yourself like everything in the art and life revolves on teamwork I would see the only thing you can rely on is yourself your crew and your boat the best feeling in the world is doing a job properly coming back in opening the biscuit tin and cracking on the cattle ID today of the 238 lifeboat stations across the UK and Ireland perhaps no crew members are closer than three young men from son David's on the most westerly tip of Wales Wellum Bend my brothers all three of us on the lifeboat which is nice my dad was in there my dad was on the island I I've always wanted to be on the analyte dad was on the lifeboat for about 15 16 years so it was always there in a head then my brother how joined and then my brother well joined there and I kind of felt a little bit left out so I thought I'd join them as well working with my brother's is his place it's funny like a time said well we'll have an argument but because the brothers would slap it off and that's it I got a really great relationship with the Richardson brothers I was Ben's best man last year so obviously I'm as close to Ben as I am to anyone else in the world basically and Hallam will they're the two great guys as well I'm really close with em they were good laugh as well as manning the lifeboat together how been and will also work together on the family farm and campsite overlooking White Sands beach and run with an iron fist BYE MOM this this actually has to be put on a tap yeah I can farm is a camp so that I work out it's all there family-run business okay can we have a cup of tea please what's up T nothing it was passed on for my mum's mum down to her has been going for about 70 years now my main duties are just making sure the site looks pretty cutting the grass trimming the hedges making sorting out anything that needs sorting out on the ground basically it's it's a pretty spectacular view from the campsite white sands is one of the most popular beaches around here in the summer can literally packed with hundreds and hundreds of people you can see currently in the distance over the shore I'm sure David head and then look around over there peninsular you can see Ramsey Island it was like voted one of the prettiest coastlines in the world we got the best sunset because it's just straight to the horizon of the sea the Sun David's lifeboat station covers an area roughly 12 miles in each direction along the coast and 30 miles out into the Irish Sea they launched to around 30 shouts a year and can be called to anywhere in their area at any time but on one particular day in early September a very unusual shout comes to them so we were in the band I usually like yearly tidy in the band and we could just hear this like popping night like a like a [ __ ] for the we'll know surface he actually hear that you didn't see it we all ran outside from the van and we look today as they came around the corner then that doesn't not look right like this women wrong there it's just above the caravans it looked like which isn't very high crash and we'll just watch this plane just wobbling around just going across the bay getting real low like going towards white sands woman like just going down like that is going down and then it disappeared behind a cliff I thought maybe he's just flying low and he's just gonna go back up any second 90 bit shocked at the time bit like how does it actually happen oh you know the blue fees go and [Music] we got down the station judge was already in his kit because he was down there so he said get you care and we're gonna go and assist with the plane crash [Music] white sands beach is just over a mile around the headland with no new information about the plane the crew pushed their d-class inshore lifeboat to its top speed of 25 knots on the way over there was obviously their concern that there was going to be someone [Applause] once you hear that Clayton has gone down you know that the likely outcome isn't a good one it's not a positive one particularly a plane has gone down on white sands beach is such a popular area worst-case scenario is he'd hit people on the beach so yeah that was what I was fearing the most they soon came around the corner where you could see everyone just like trying to see what was going on for the distance and then we just seen the tail and these wings so I and just went as fast as we get over there being a busy beach there was people proudly round it already incredibly the only casualty of the crash is the pilot himself who suffered a few cuts and bruises and a banged head I knew by then that the pilot was safe and he was being looked after so that was fine there was no other casualties it was just him on his own see I guess the next point of call was to make sure this plane is safe it's not gonna catch a light drift off leaked fuel everywhere there was fortunate that there was a guy on the beach who was an ex-pilot that he came up to me almost immediately and said I can help I can make sure that the engines off the fuel is isolated he was good yeah we turned the fuel off and all that kind of stuff we didn't know if there was a small crack maybe and it was just ready to go so we just had to get out the water basically he's quickly as possible although the tide was going out obviously sooner or later the tide is going to come back in I don't know how long it takes to move a plane fortunately the one Richardson brother not on the shaft Ben is back at the family farm we waited up in the crew room for a little bit to see if we could hear what was going on and as there is enough crew on shore I went back to pink island to have a look over so I could have a watch from the land basically and the farm may have just a tool for the job basically just a little tractor with a arm that can extend on the front and lift heavy things there we are then so what was the ballad lifting the wheels will work the front was buried in the sand pretty much without the front wheel and it was still partially in the water so it's quite soft sand on the edge of the water that really didn't want to tell you Harbor sinking in all stop I was surprised how a good condition it was in like as soon as we pulled out and realized that the only thing that was broken on it was that front wheel like I was blown away we told the pain pretty much the whole way down right and I've never done anything like that before first person to tell were playing down the beach with a telehandler yeah it was pretty cool I could have been catastrophic I know that's a it sounds dramatic but if it happened a week earlier it was August bank holiday the beach would have been full of thousands of people no exaggeration [Music] the rather ironic twist is to the day of the plane crash at White Sands thirteen years previously their st. Davids crude be now looking for a plane which had crashed in the Irish Sea so if I'm still working for the airline in 13 years time I probably take that day off just in case a couple of hundred miles along the coast from San David's is highly on the northwestern corner of the world Peninsula hikes my hometown I was born born raised here it's used to be a fishing village and it's got a very strong link with the sea we've got lovely beaches we've got two very close cities too as Chester and Liverpool and the people in Hoylake are fantastic very friendly less friendly however are the infamous sands of d a vast and constantly shifting area of mud flats that appear at low tide the coastline is very sandy all round from West Kobe around Soho Lake all the way around to New Brighton it's sand and mud there's mud flats are nasty you cannot see them sometimes it can be walking on sand one - and you can be up Sini's and it the next it's the Seas East because house if you do find yourself stuck and you have no way of letting the authorities or get help that way worst case scenario for somebody stuck in the mud is to drown and it's a very real possibility watching over this treacherous stretch of coastline Hoylake lifeboat station founded in 1803 is one of the oldest in the UK because of the very particular nature of the patch they cover Hoylake is home to an equally particular vehicle the hovercraft mainly is for people cut off by tide on sand banks and people stuck in mud it's a completely different set to anything else EROI house price aids closer to her to a plane than to a boats especially when it's on the beach there are only four stations that operate hovercraft in the UK making rescues possible in areas inaccessible to conventional lifeboats the hovercraft last year had 34 shouts but the boats had seven shows typical shouts there is no typical shout with the hovercraft whenever you go down when the page is gone it's usually not what you think it is mid-april blue skies low tide when I arrived at the station I was appointed as the commander for the for the shout first thing we heard is there was two horses stuck in the mud which was a first for ourselves so you know there's a lot going through our heads about how how to tackle up [Music] then more information came through that there was human currencies there as well does that make this situation even more serious were the humans in danger of being stuck under the horses we did not know so it was a very very tense time my worst-case scenario with people and animals stuck in the mod is the tide if the tides flooding if we're coming up to high water and we get that call time is is critical [Music] as well as the risk to human life adding to the urgency of the shaft the crew also discover that the two riders a young girls aged just 14 and 11 it was a quite emotional really because we didn't know what to expect the things dark on into your mind whether it's going to be any injuries the other thing that went through my head is I've never dug a horse out mud before so this is going to be interesting it takes the crew ten minutes to reach the shout location as they draw closer they spot something we knew that we only had one horse deal with them as the other craft that had to be mindful of not getting too close to the casualties with the being horses involved I didn't want them to get boots are scared [Music] when we arrived that a Merseyside fire and rescue were already there and some of the coast guards are already there we established this both riders were in fact okay but once we saw the horse stock in the model we realized there wasn't gonna be such a simple job though one horse and both riders are safe the hovercraft crews still have a half-ton problem on their hands the horse was pretty stuck he was stuck all the way all the way to the tops of his legs he was a lot deeper than why envisioned on our way out there so let's go public I was quite surprised to see a horse in a saris be honest and I heard that the horse had bolted from the beach and the other horse had followed I don't think she would have gone there by herself initially wanting to go there the sand is always shifting these mud flats move and gullies move so wasn't a very pleasant place to be it was just the case of digging by hand at first so he started to dig and we dug him a token we dug as a whole team effort as well as hands and shovels the crew used mud wards to spread their weight and stop themselves from getting stuck and also a specialist tool called the mud Lance you know in our efforts we decided that we would resort using the mud Lance which is basically a fire hydrant filter water with a big long probe that liquefies the mud to then hopefully free because these limbs [Music] well fortunately it wasn't as effective as before the mod was just too thick so we resorted back to plan a which is to keep on digging I initially thought I will get this horse I was in a few minutes we dug for about 45 minutes I think it was watch yourselves then papi decides to jump out the mud by himself and then he's sunk again I was feeling pretty deflated once we got him free and he instantly got stuck again and we were back to square one an hour after launching the crew is still no closer to freeing Bobby we talked with our fire colleagues our Coast Guard colleagues to come up with another plan really it was quite a multi-agency job pool an hour on knowledge our resources our equipment together we use some of fire equipment some straps some lifts to try and help him out Modbus we were digging it just watch it working mod it has its own challenges sometimes feels like you getting nowhere fast with it the only way you can really sort deal with getting someone out is to get right down with your belly down in it as well alongside them and start start digging them out as time ticks on the mud is now not their only problem at the beginning of the shouts the tide wasn't a concern of mine so to speak it was a being anyway our time on our side has the job progressed and as it became more complex the issue of tides started to concern me I was feeling yes but no I was gonna carry on digging until I got that horse house I would never give up I would never give up saving a horse or a human being or anything I would just keep on going at one point the horse was breathing quite heavily after discussion with Ian we established that he wasn't quite a bit of distress and discomfort and that they make things a little bit the more critical passing of water there myself sooth get more water was drinking lost Rafa hand a couple times and you could see with his breathing it sort of eased which was great in talking to Bobby did help I think we all found ourselves at one point talking to Bobby so we all we're all we're all rooting for him then after more than three hours digging bobby was obviously quite tired but he still had the energy in him that once he felt a better freedom a bit of movement in his legs that he was trying to try to stand up and try and free himself which will fortunately hinder the process after only a few meters Bobby gets stuck again his instinct of bolt is landing him right back in trouble still with almost 300 meters of mud between him and the shore the chances of getting him to safety before the tide returns are falling fast after the horse got stuck the third time it did crossed my mind that he could be finally losing battle we had about an hour left before the tide was would have been up to us so it was starting to get a little bit worrying because three and a half four hours of digging and it was very very stuck in the mud and going nowhere fast [Music] the worst-case scenario for the horse would have been that he he perished with the uncommon side the crew need to come up with yet another plan as they can't get the horse to solid ground they decide to bring solid ground to him instead it was decided we try and get more boards underneath the front legs to try and give him a bit of firmer ground to help himself out [Music] though the hovercraft only carries small mud boards designed for people the fire and rescue service has a much larger inflatable platform big enough for vehicles and hopefully a horse it was very very much a team effort boards and our muds rescue techniques but having the extra hands there from the five maiden Coast Guard would definitely needed everybody played a part we had to get him out of that mud because he was really starting to dwindle at horse you know he was tired we were all tired it was a case of rice we've all got to give it one big last push so we had straps around his backside around his legs and around his tail and we all said right let's go we all counts to three and we pulled there was seven of us physically pulling that horse out of the mud and it needed every inch of our strength to get that horse out of that mud and we pulled only shows to come on he gets out and he came out and he seemed to know where to go to and stood on the board and it was such a relief you know it was very satisfying to say the least I think we all had a deep breath and and a drink of water cuz we were exhausted the hardest thing I think I've ever done [Music] that was all right there's a little bit tired but I wasn't as tired as Bobby I think it was such a great sight to see he just stepped off the skid mats by himself no encouragement sand It was as if he knew he was home and safe I think all it was about for I was from us arriving on scene to the horse being clear of the mud for has a lot of perseverance and hard work I was estatic because it would been a horse liver you know it was one of the best rescues of Don I think by the end of the shouts and they were Kate from head to toe in it and made a mess of my nice clean hovercraft we were covered and then when we got back to station the job had only just begun then as well that was a long wash down would've never got the horse out had we not worked as a team and that's not just the lifeboat crew that's us working as a team with the Coast Guard and the fire service after the shouts we didn't get a call to say they've got it back to the paddocks where where as cats it it was there was doing it was doing well no I don't think I'll forget this one it was yeah it was definitely the most trickiest more the rescue up and involved with if somebody asked me to die save that horse's life well yes I think at it I've got just me though there was a team got quite emotional talking the stuff like that when animals are involved you know I'm a bigger animal lover especially horses so it was a big relief back down the coast it's and David's the three generation tradition of having a Richardson on the crew looks set to continue we've got here I've got Finn and this one here is little affair gonna be very important and you're gonna go out and save lives here yeah say no flame in coastguard listen David I'll be yeah there has been a lifeboat station here in what is officially the smallest city in Britain since 1869 and for very good reason most people who sail around the wash Cove certainly would identify st. Davids as being probably the worst area around the West Coast in our area the conditions can change really quickly there's nothing between us in the Atlantic so got big waves coming in big swells the coastline is really rocky which really builds up those these big summer interns are quite nasty as soon as we go out at the station when a very dangerous area there are literally thousands of shipwrecks along the San David's Peninsula one of which was the second son Dave's life boat back in 1910 which is an old rowing sailing lifeboat the gem went out to rescue a sailing sailing catch the Democrat and what swept onto the reef and boat was lost along with three of the crew when we go past the reef we give a thought to the crew members who lost their lights down there you know nowadays it's very different through in the motorized I suppose big powerful engines but in those days it was a rowing boat an open rowing boat just to go out throwing in this kind of area and gain force winds like that was immense thing to do really those are property was early August overcast wind blowing in from the southwest a distress signal comes in over the radio from a yacht in trouble we knew that we had some kind of steering problem and it's 26 miles out [Music] twenty-five miles offshore with their steering difficulties you instantly know it's gonna be a long day I got the list you're looking it like a 10-hour tow probably in the water within 12 15 minutes from pages going off yeah we didn't hang about [Music] [Music] the stricken yacht is halfway to Ireland the crew launched their team our class all-weather lifeboat with a range of 250 nautical miles and heads straight out to open sea by the time we got a couple of miles off shore be looking at three maybe four meter waves one day punching into the sea all the way down is that chug down to a long shouts can be where people go a bit green around the gills you know yeah it was a very rough ride I just got worse and worse the further we got out the worse and worse it got it was uncomfortable you know I didn't feel great though it's bad enough for the crew in a 32-ton lifeboat they know for the casualties on a yacht with no steering it will be much worse and they need to get to them as fast as wind and weather will allow I was staring at the horizon looking for that first little glimpse yachts a pretty small target to find out there you know even ships look quite small out there so until your next door to them [Music] we've been given a Latin wrong position we're to find them and I think we were about two miles away then then we picked them up on radar and we knew we had them by the time they reached the casualty the lifeboat crew have already been at sea for over an hour but as well as the yacht they also spots something else on the horizon there were the shipping lane out there they don't a lot of danger 26 miles out to sea there's no sign of land anywhere you got container ships moving back and forth all day long all night long more than 30 ships a day pass through these lanes including huge container ships and super tankers heading to and from the ports of Cardiff Liverpool and Dublin sometimes they can't they can't stop take some a couple of nautical miles for them to stop shipping lanes is not somewhere that you want to get stuck at all you could run something down at sea in a container ship he wouldn't feel it those people could have been lost and nobody would have known they would have just been missing at sea they were in big big trouble the yacht has now been in the shipping lanes for several hours and urgently needs towing to safety but with a rough for me to swell crossing both boats around it's not going to be easy my job was to get that toe transferred across to the casualty as quickly and as safely as we could this spring tide so the accounts that were coming through were very strong and we knew throwing a towline was going to be a tricky job I was gonna pass the heaving line with the heavy tow rope attached to that across to em and you really look at the mast to see how much role they've got going on and the chances of actually landing in their hand is almost impossible [Music] the first attempt managed to catch it pulled in the line but he didn't seem to be able to secure it it got cold after his hand and fell over the side of the boat they don't wait from that road it's not easy you can't particularly just stand up and pull the rope in we were quite concerned about him because the last thing we wanted was for him to end up in the water tried a slightly different angle the second time and hoping that maybe if we got across quickly or something it would work he was hanging on for Griff death just to stay on his boat and then trying to pick up this line it's like dragging in net and the more rope ends up in the water the heavier that Rope becomes and he just physically didn't have the strength you can see him starting to tire there's an element of frustration that you haven't been able to get the rope across successfully but in situations like that you just prepare yourselves and give it another go by this stage we were getting quite worried that the crew member had become exhausted we'd be attic now for probably 40 45 minutes and we still haven't managed to get her toe across to him and we're thinking you know we need we need to come up with another plan really the only other option that we could have done at that point was for one of our crew to go on board and transferring it C is not something we we want to do if we unless we have to certainly out there you know somebody's in the water Samba falls in and it's an easy thing to do that just changes the whole thing you know it becomes a nightmare then I remember looking up at died up on the helm used up on the on the bridge and he looked down at me and I see like the kind of like split second I just I knew he was gonna create jumper cuz I do we call gonna howl and I think he already realized then that he'd kind of drawn the short straw and he was going transferring at sea is one of the most dangerous procedures a crew member can undertake particularly on to a smaller vessel in rolling and unpredictable seas the main concerns transferring you don't break any bones you know you if you've got one boat dropping away as one of them was coming up a new job it could be like running into a car what I thought was going to be our chance my start is approaching and then a couple of big waves came through they had to be in probably you know at the extreme was going to be a six-foot difference in in hyper to the two boats you know we were up they were down overall the people behind me the the other crew we're saying you go when you want to go like this this is your choice like don't listen to any of us I just had to block everything out my mind and just focus on the jump really setting study it was amazing it was like a real-life action hero Superman spider-man he just jumped on and his two feet landed on the deck of our boat he landed with both feet planted on the side of our boat and never ever even gave him the impression he was gonna fall over it was the most impressive thing I've ever seen he was just suddenly standing there and the boats do go up at them and I think he said hi I'm Hal I'm here to help and I think it was just a general sense the village hall around that we knew he was on board and safe we were very happy when Hal boarded our vessel I just felt like we were in great hands he knew that he was able to attach the towline which he did very easily it was the first time I'd been on a cash Depot there's someone else that I knew I was gonna be with them for a long time and I could have been a back for you to jump on but with how told us that his grandfather had been a volunteer that his father had been a volunteer and that at age 18 he couldn't wait to become a volunteer he was a delight to have on board my memories of Hal are just wonderful wonderful young man with lumpy sea conditions and the dead weight of the yacht severely limiting their speed the crews settle in for a steady for our tow back to San David's so I made up some sandwiches and we dug out some chips and had a little lunch the three of us is the father he's a proverb steak you're having mustard sandwich is really nice spinach and those old Browns van loaf and all that kind of it was lovely it was a really nice sandwich definitely won't forget that sandwich for sure okay [Music] as you approach the coastline you know you can feel yourself it's been a long job it's been a very physical job that sense of you start to relaxing class coming to an end now good we can get them ashore get them safely on the mooring you know jobs done you guys all right it's the first time I've ever called Coast Guard in probably over 35 years of boating I was so impressed with the way they just you know the whole team just seemed to just gel in coming to our rescue there it was it was it was wonderful really was first luck okay they were amazing I can't say enough about that rescue crew [Music] waiver get it Gary grave I don't know what would have happened they [Music] in Jersey despite their ordeal canoeing enthusiasts Alan and Tim remain as enthusiastic as ever about this sport I wouldn't say it's not my confidence it happens it doesn't happen very often but it happens just need to get back out there they log you leave it gets in your head we've got a damn wind race planned next one don't we in France we know we can rely on each other to bail each other out where we can that's an important thing when you're out on the water knowing that your other guy out there with you've got your back and Bobby the horse has also fully recovered from his muddy ordeal as has his rider 11 year old dollar the lifeboat crew were amazing because obviously you don't want to come every day do you in same horse out of the sand it was scary I think it was just traumatic for me um Bobby like both together well obviously now now is like like this is just me like maybe both got the same personality both of our tantrums both cheeky when we want to be cheeky I love him to bits commercial fishing vessel carries a lot of fuel it's basically a floating ball she was quite reluctant to let go of the dog she wasn't gonna hold on for much longer I prefer me I can carry her and he was wet and exhausted from struggling [Music]

Channel: Lifeboat Enthusiasts

Views: 330,246

Rating: 4.8927493 out of 5

Keywords: rnli, saving lives at sea, rnli saving lives at sea, saving lives at sea rnli, st catherines lifeboat, st catherine, st catherines, jersey, jersey lifeboat, jersey rnli

Id: z0rz46H2Q7g

Length: 58min 55sec (3535 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 16 2019