On Saturday (29th July 2023), members of the Lymington Coastguard Rescue Team (CRT) paid an informal visit to Stone Point to give NCI Watchkeepers a better understanding of their role and capabilities.
We were introduced to Colin Tabor the Lymington CRT Station Officer and Mike Griffiths one of the 13 Lymington based Coastguard Rescue Officers.
Colin explained that HM Coastguard Rescue Service is made up of over 300 Coastguard Rescue Teams (CRTs) around the UK Coast.
CRTs are made up of highly trained volunteers called Coastguard Rescue Officers (CRO’s). They carry out Rope Rescues, Mud Rescues, Water Rescues, Casualty Care and they conduct Searches for lost and missing people. Lymington CRT is one of very few qualified to carry out all the disciplines.
The teams are paged by the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, with details of the casualty, location and type of rescue required.
Other members of the emergency services may be involved, including the Ambulance Service, the Ambulance Service’s Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) team, Police and Fire Brigade. The CRTs also work with the Coastguard Helicopters and the various Lifeboats in the area.
They use Chanel 00 for Incident Management. They were pleased to hear they could speak to NCI Stations on Channel 00 during an incident. The on-scene incident Coastguard Officer in Charge (OIC) uses the callsign “Oscar” on Ch 00.
Sometimes several CRTs work together if it is a major incident. The other local teams are Hillhead CRT to the East and Southbourne CRT to the West.
Lost & Missing Person Search
They have a very reliable method of searching for missing persons. This considers age, mental state, and possible injuries. It then gives a search radius from the last known position and highlights the most likely type of locations based on previous similar incidents.
Colin handed over to Mike who demonstrated the equipment for the three types of rescues…
Water Rescue: CROs are trained to be able to carry out rescues in water. They wear dry suits if required for wading.
Mud Rescue is the most physically demanding type of rescue. CROs trained as Mud rescue technicians walk on the mud wearing ‘Mudders’ – specialist footwear inspired by ducks’ feet which help to prevent them sinking. Some Watchkeepers tried these on.
The technicians tow two raft-like stretchers which carry equipment to extract people deeply stuck in mud – including shovels and mud lances used with a compressed air bottle or water. The stretchers are roped to the shore.
If the mud is very soft and watery, they may use the two stretchers as steppingstones in a technique they call “pepper potting”. They stand on one stretcher, drag the second one as far forward at they can, transfer the equipment to it then drag the first stretcher forward. They repeat this till they reach the casualty.
When tasked to a potential mud rescue, the Coastguard Rescue Vehicles tow a trailer containing a motorised double drum winch, which is used to drag the stretchers laden with equipment and casualties back over the mud.
Rope Rescue is used to recover casualties who have fallen or are stuck on cliffs or in confined spaces such as coastal rock armour or ships’ holds.
The CROs work together to lower a CRO trained as a rope rescue technician who will assess the casualty, provide first aid treatment if necessary, and then recover the casualty to safety.
They hammer metal stakes into the ground to secure the ropes as a holdfast. One or more CRO can be lowered using a two-rope safety system, CROs can lower a paramedic or police negotiator down if required. The technicians and casualties are pulled back to the clifftop using a two or five to one rope pulley system. (a “Tugger”).
The casualty is then transferred to other emergency services for further care.
Casualty Care
HM Coastguard calls this Coastguard Emergency Responder Casualty Care (CERCC).
Each Coastguard Rescue Officer is trained in how to care for a casualty which includes basic first aid and to use the defibrillator which every Coastguard Rescue Vehicle carries.
Colin then answered questions from the Watchkeepers.
The visit was completed by Peter Taylor our DSM for Stone Point giving Colin and Mike a tour of the Station with an overview of our capabilities, including Radar, the High-Powered Camera, and the Weather Station.
Both Officers downloaded the Davis Weatherlink App for accessing the data from our, and other NCI Weather Stations as they said this would prove very useful.
All parties agreed this had been a very useful and informative visit.
Peter Brown, Training Advisor, NCI Calshot Tower & Stone Point
NCI Calshot Tower & NCI Stone Point Blog 