D is for Drogue
Yet again on the Lifeboat theme. D is for Drogue.........The drogue or sea anchor is a piece of equipment that we use on the Lifeboat to steady her in rough weather. The one we have on the Ann & James Ritchie is manufactured from a very thick industrial plastic type material. It resembles a small parachute but with a hole in the end. It is deployed from the stern of the boat on the end of two very long ropes and is towed behind with the large open mouth facing the boat. The photo above shows it as I have taken it out of its locker and placed on the foredeck just to get a good picture of it. It is stowed in the port rope locker.....
..................along with the main line. The other line which is known as the tripping line is stowed in the opposite starboard locker.
...........It takes two people to deploy it and can be ready within a short time. First of all, it, along with the main line is taken to the stern of the boat, the rope put through the centre fair lead then back over the rails and then attached to the shackle on the end of the blue strapping. Spare rope is flaked out on the deck then tied to the towing post or bits. The tripping line from the starboard locker is taken alongside to the stern put through the starboard fair lead over the railings and attached to the rear of the drogue chain, again using a shackle then tied off on the starboard bits. To deploy, the drogue and main line are thrown over the rails and the rope paid out slowly until the first mark. The rope is then tied off whilst the tripping line is paid out slowly to its first mark then tied off. The tripping line is that much longer so when both lines are at the same mark the drogue is in its set position.......Altogether there are three marks on each rope so it can be extended quite a way from the boat. To retrieve the process is done in reverse order so then when it has collapsed it can be hauled back on board........
......If you have found this interesting you can read even more about the Ramsey Lifeboat on my site at www.freewebs.com/mannananscloak

C is for Caterpillar

Not as you would expect a real catterpillar but keeping on the Lifeboat theme, today I bring you images of the two catterpillar engines that power our Mersey Class Lifeboat the Anne & James Ritchie, here in Ramsey, on the beautiful Isle of Man.............Below is the Port Engine, left hand side as the boat is pointing forward.......
........The two Catterpillar V8 Turbo Charged Marine Diesel engines produce 320 shaft horse power each which gives our boat a top speed in the region of 16 to 17 knots. With both diesel tanks full and travelling at this top speed we would have a time before refueling of 10 hours or a range of 140 nautical miles......
........The image above is of the starboard engine and as you can see both are kept in pristine condition and are ready to be fired up at a moments notice.On all Lifeboat stations around the country there is a full time mechanic. All other crew like myself are volunteers. At our station we have, in addition to the full time mechanic a second, third and fourth person (female I must add) who can fill in whenever one of the others can't make it for one reason or another. This duplication goes the same on all positions for instance, coxswain, helmsman, navigator, radar operator, deck hand, emergency first aider.I've been on the boat four years now and am competent on the last three of those and am in the process of learning the ins and outs of navigation be it using the chart or the sat nav equipment which is on board. And finally below are two more images this time of both engines showing you what little room the mechanics have to work in. The first one is taken looking to the stern of the boat with the wheelhouse up the facing steps. The second one facing the bow with the door just visible at the top of the step that leads into the survivors cabin......

Wednesday 30th July 2008

B is for........... Breeches Buoy.

For the second week running I'm using a piece of equipment that we use on the Lifeboat................This week a Breeches Buoy, which, as the Wikipedia definition says........is a crude rope-based rescue device used to extract people from wrecked vessels, or to transfer people from one location to another in situations of danger. The device resembles a round emergency personal flotation device with a leg harness attached. It is similar to a zip line.The breeches buoy was usually deployed from either ship to ship, or ship to shore using a lyle gun, and allowed single person evacuations......It may be crude but it is very effective. Thankfully I have never had to use it for real but I do have to know how to deploy it and to this end we (the crew at Ramsey Lifeboat Station) practice the drill on a regular basis and as it happened back in February this year I was one of the casualties being rescued.......But first...............we had to be stranded to be rescued so myself and a fellow crew member Darren, inflated the dinghy and rowed over to a rocky outcrop which was directly under Maughold lighthouse. Just to make things a tad easier we carried the wooden pulley and rope with us. In a real emergency situation these would be thrown to the casualties either with aid of a heaving line or rocket line. The pulley has a tag with instructions written on it along with a fairly long piece of rope which is attached securely to a suitable place. On board the Lifeboat there are two very long pieces of rope which are placed bow and stern (this is what we took in the boat with us) and this is threaded through the pulley and the two ends joined with a lifebelt forming a large loop........ This then can be pulled by the casualties who can step into the lifebelt and then in turn be pulled by the crew towards the boat for a very welcome rescue............The above photos were taken by one of the crew who remained on board. The last one shows yours truly being hauled towards the Ann & James Ritchie and safety. Even though it was early February I wasn't too cold as I was wearing all my own clothes as well as an RNLI regulation dry suit, helmet and life-jacket so I was fairly comfortable and I never got wet.....If you found all this interesting you can follow what I get up to on different exercise and shouts on my other site www.freewebs.com/mannanans cloak.