Tom Pederson Trains
Tom Pederson training the Dart volunteers
News from the Dart Lifeboats - July 2013
The RNLI works continuously to improve the safety and capability of its lifeboats. The Dart inshore lifeboat followed those at Torbay, Rock, Port Isaac and Portsmouth in having the latest on board search and rescue capability fitted within a new pod in the bow of the craft. It is hoped to fit the system by the end of the year into all the inshore boats where there is no other lifeboat on the station as safety backup.
Tom Pederson, the new South Division Assessor and Trainer, fitted the pod and remained at the station for two days training the crew on how to use the new equipment.
The Automatic Identification System, AIS, is integrated into the Digital Selective Calling, DSC, radio. The position of the boat is fixed and shown on the screen of the on-board chart plotter as soon as the external power supply at the lifeboat station is disconnected and the boat is ready to launch. All the information about any craft operating AIS, such as its name, position, course, speed and often a photograph, is broadcast every ten minutes. The position of the lifeboat can be followed by the Coastguard, the Operational team in the lifeboat station and anyone using the web site www.marinetraffic.com. If you wish to be notified when the lifeboat has launched follow us on www.twitter.com/dartRNLI
If the casualty vessel also has AIS the same information can be seen on the lifeboat and a blue line connecting the two shows the course to steer and the time it will take to reach the incident. The same information can be seen by the crew if they manually enter a casualty’s position on the water or on the coastline.
Searches are a frequent component of our rescues. They can be used when a casualty has fallen overboard and not been recovered or when a vessel is not present at its last known position. Now that the exact position of the lifeboat is known various search patterns can be entered onto the chart plotter and the area searched is known exactly. In the past inshore lifeboats could steer a course but be blown from it or carried away from it by the tide and their true position had to be relayed to them by an accompanying All Weather Lifeboat, using its radar.
Many of the emergency call outs for the Dart lifeboat are upstream as far as Totnes weir. That journey can be hazardous if carried out at night or in foggy conditions. It will be possible to build in a route with Waypoints for any journey and such routes can subsequently be followed in confidence. As each Waypoint is reached the course and distance to the next mark is displayed on the chart plotter.
All this latest equipment will improve the safety and enhance the capabilities
First published By The Dart July 2013