Photos

‘This is an extremely important day for Dunbar Lifeboat Station ...'
A brand new state of the art inshore rescue craft and a refitted all weather lifeboat were officially handed over by the RNLI at a ceremony this afternoon. This is 'behind the scenes' ten minutes before the ceremony was due to begin. The weather was not pleasant and rain threatened. But those are minor discomforts to the men who were called out last week to rescue two sailors whose yacht was in difficulty 37 miles away in 10 metre high waves the like of which the Dunbar cox had never experienced in his life. Read that story here.
I tried to get a front view of the proceedings, but all I could catch was the last blast of the pipe band (workshop). I intended that to be the principal posting, but accidentally used this one which is not sharp, my apologies. The sun came out when everyone had gone home.

The inshore boat, an IBI designed and built by the RNLI is the very latest of its kind and is capable of speeds of up to 25 knots and has a working range of about 75 miles at full speed. Its crew of three or four will normally have the boat leaving the harbour to respond to a distress call within five minutes of their pagers going off.

The Trent class lifeboat is designed to lie afloat, either at deep-water moorings or at a berth. It is capable of obtaining speeds up 25 knots with a range of around 250 nautical miles. The sheerline sweeps down for ease of survivor recovery. Its propellers are protected so it can take ground without damage.