Hemsby Lifeboat - Job Well Done!

[NorfolkNog]

.....and a grateful customer too!

 

[Viking23]

No volunteer would ever say no to a breakfast, or even a bacon butty.

Well done guys, and well done for the rescued guy too, great appreciation of a great service. Makes you proud to be British.

 

[JennyMorgan]

I'm not quite so enthusiastic, great job by the lifeboat crew but surely the casualty, if we can really call him that, should have helped himself. He could probably have kipped aboard for the night and thumbed a tow in the morning. Alternatively he could have moored for the night, left his boat and either walked to Oulton Broad or Burgh St Peter, depending on which bank he was moored to. Calling for a lifeboat has become the easy option but the clue should be in the title LIFE-boat. Was he really in danger, or just a silly-billy for running out of fuel? From this side of the computer screen it seems to me that it was just a good job that the life-boat wasn't actually needed for a genuinely serious casualty rather than a tow home for someone who forgot to keep his fuel tank topped up. Rant over!

[VetChugger]

I'm not ging to speculate at this stage about the rights and wrongs until there is more information on the circumstances. The report does not specifically state that this fella was the one to call the RNLI.

Lets just wait and see before we have another kangaroo court on here ...........!

[marshman]

Agree totally and wholeheartedly with you Mr Waller - where was the danger and LIFE threatening circumstance. If you cannot deal with such a situation sensibly and responsibly , you should not be in control of a boat! The lifeboat service is NOT a breakdown service - never mind a McDonalds the person should donate at the very minimum the sum of £250 to the lifeboat station as a penalty cost for being a p**t !!

Thanks to the lifeboat crew who do a sterling job but dialling 999 because you run out of fuel on a river - let me guess, he didn't have a mudweight either!!

 

[VetChugger]

Rank speculation.......   nothing more, distasteful at this early stage from two who really should know better!

[marshman]

VetChugger - merely comment on the Hemsby Lifeboats blog!! Not sure where the speculation is - they supplied the petrol to get him going, took him back to his car and then by chance met him in McDonalds. Quite what have PW and I speculated on??

[Hockham Admiral]

Let's keep it cool, please, Gents.    

[JennyMorgan]

Vet, just commenting on the reports both in the media and from the lifeboat crew themselves. As the report is from that crew I'm content to take it on trust. 

That the gentleman who ran out of fuel subsequently wanted to be towed up towards Beccles, possibly some ten or so miles away, suggests to me that he was more than ill prepared for his proposed journey. However, as to where he was actually going IS pure speculation. 

Anyway, let it be an important lesson to us all, a dip stick is an invaluable tool, as is a reserve can of fuel, or a paddle. 

Heaven forbid that people start dialing 999 every time they see what they suspect to be a broken down boat on the river. 

Sorry John, but I think that both Marsh and myself should have a right of reply on this one.

[JanetAnne]

Whilst water skiing on the Waveney a couple of years ago a Shetland type boat comes into view drifting on the tide. We pull alongside to check all is well only to discover that they were out of petrol. They were trying to get to WRC in the hope some was available there as they had tried everywhere they had passed since leaving Norwich finally running out near Somerleyton. 

We had spare with us and soon had them up and running again. When they offered payment Andy, whose boat we had raided the fuel from, says "money? Not keen on money, what else have you got"?

Amidst much laughter we were offered a lemon meringue pie from their onboard stock! This seemed far more appropriate, after all a days skiing can build the appetite somewhat, and so, after much waving they headed off to their destination and we sat watching one of those amazing sunsets eating our new gained grub which, if I remember correctly, we cut using the dipstick! 

[Hockham Admiral]

You deserve a VERY BIG chocolate bar for that. JanetAnne!         

[TheQ]

During Horning regatta week one year, on rescue boat duty, while heading for Dydlers mill, my crewman heard a shout from The Dyke to Black Horse Broad. So we went down there and found a lady and 3 small grand children ( everyone life jacketed) in an open boat of about 12 ft long. Engine out of fuel and no paddles!!! We towed them Back to their chalet on the main river. She was grateful but Sadly we didn't get any bacon butties....

[JennyMorgan]

Even I have been glad of a tow on occasions, it's the way of The Broads and long may it continue. By the way, unless they had run out the Waveney River Centre at Burgh St. Peter sells petrol, albeit probably not late at night

https://www.waveneyrivercentre.co.uk/marina-and-boatyard?cmsr=marina-and-boatyard

[Guest]

To be frank, with a modicum of forward planning, 20/20 hindsight and a dollop of common sense (that rare commodity in people other than oneself), a significant percentage of all lifeboat rescues would be completely unnnecessary. I know that over the years I've done a number of daft things. Let he who is without blame cast the first stone.

Oh, sorry, missed a couple there.

[HemsbyPie]

On 15 July 2016 at 7:57 PM, JennyMorgan said:

I'm not quite so enthusiastic, great job by the lifeboat crew but surely the casualty, if we can really call him that, should have helped himself. He could probably have kipped aboard for the night and thumbed a tow in the morning. Alternatively he could have moored for the night, left his boat and either walked to Oulton Broad or Burgh St Peter, depending on which bank he was moored to. Calling for a lifeboat has become the easy option but the clue should be in the title LIFE-boat. Was he really in danger, or just a silly-billy for running out of fuel? From this side of the computer screen it seems to me that it was just a good job that the life-boat wasn't actually needed for a genuinely serious casualty rather than a tow home for someone who forgot to keep his fuel tank topped up. Rant over!

All fair comments, however consider this... The previous "boat adrift" call-out to this one turned into a missing person search, eventually resulting in the guy being pulled from the reeds with early stages of hypothermia half way between Acle & Yarmouth at 2am.

Sometimes acting to help someone before they become a real casualty helps prevent & preserve, which is better than cure.

nobody will disagree that running out of fuel is a school-boy error, but if we were all perfect then we wouldn't need any emergency services...

[JennyMorgan]

I don't think for one moment that anyone, least of of all me, is criticising the life boat. Once called for by the Coastguard it is obliged to go. I don't have a clue as to who called the rescue services but the report states that the boat had only run out of fuel, no other problem. This suggests that the owner either told a passerby who then dialed 999 or that he called for help himself. I doubt very much that there was a walker along the bank at that time of night, although it's certainly possible, however there might have been a passing boat but then surely they would have offered help at least or even better a tow or a lift. Equally there could have been a moored boat, a member of that crew could have called, who knows? All largely speculation, of course, but the bloke was able to walk across the car-park and into McDonalds so he was at least reasonably fit!

My criticism, and I think that of Marshman, was the ill preparedness and lack of forethought by the casualty and apparent unwillingness to help himself. Boating, especially at night, is not a risk free occupation, even on the Broads, it does require a reasonable degree of preparedness and common sense, as well as self reliance.

 

[JennyMorgan]

9 hours ago, Spider said:

To be frank, with a modicum of forward planning, 20/20 hindsight and a dollop of common sense (that rare commodity in people other than oneself), a significant percentage of all lifeboat rescues would be completely unnnecessary. I know that over the years I've done a number of daft things. Let he who is without blame cast the first stone.

Oh, sorry, missed a couple there.

Exactly! I talk as one who set off out of Lowestoft harbour mouth in my Fireball without first putting the plugs in the transom drain holes. I lived to tell the tale!

[Vaughan]

3 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

Boating, especially at night, is not a risk free occupation, even on the Broads, it does require a reasonable degree of preparedness and common sense, as well as self reliance.

It also requires a special kind of experience. I remember, years ago, teaching a young Guy Percival how to find his way down a river at night. He was amazed to find that it has not much to do with cruising by day.

This, of course, is why hire boats are not allowed out at night. They sometimes find, to their personal cost, that this means they have also broken the terms of their insurance.