Stromness Lifeboat rescues Wick Lifeboat crewman
16/03/2008
A group of sightseers whose boat got into difficulties off Scotland's northernmost coast have been brought safely ashore by lifeboat.
The rigid inflatable boat, with 11 people on board, including seven passengers, developed engine trouble in the Pentland Firth.
Martin Gill a Wick Lifeboat crew member was one of the passengers on the trip, (Martin was unavailable for comment)
Shetland Coastguard, which co-ordinated the rescue, said the tides in the area were treacherous.
It said the boat had been at risk of being swept out to sea. The boat developed engine trouble near the Island of Swona. Stromness Lifeboat, which had been on a training exercise in Scapa Flow, was diverted to come to the rescue. It took the passengers on board and towed the disabled boat into John O'Groats.
A new attraction for Wick
Caithness Seacoast
A Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB), the “Geo Explorer” is 10m (33ft) long with family friendly seating and is licensed to carry twelve passengers.
Bookings can be made online, by phone or at the harbour office next to the coastguard station.
Pentland Firth drama
20/01/2008
An RNLI lifeboat arrived at the crucial moment to save a stricken fishing boat from hitting rocks in the early hours of 5 November.
The Coastguard had mounted a search for the creel boat on the previous evening after a concerned friend of the fisherman onboard the Boy John – which had left Peterhead harbour on Sunday 4 November – raised the alarm by contacting the Coastguard.
Three RNLI lifeboats joined a major search for the casualty in force 6–7 conditions. Crews from Wick, Longhope and Thurso worked with several Coastguard rescue teams, the East Sutherland Rescue Association (ESRA) boat and an RAF helicopter from Lossiemouth.
Wick lifeboat (pictured) carried out a coastal search along the east coast of the Moray Firth for the stricken boat, along with Coastguard rescue teams and ESRA.
Shortly after midnight the Longhope and Thurso RNLI lifeboats launched to join the search after it was established that the Boy John was in the Pentland Firth. Coastguard rescue teams had seen the lights of the fishing boat near Swona and were able to lead the RAF helicopter and RNLI lifeboats to her.
Kevin Kirkpatrick, Longhope lifeboat Coxswain said: ‘She was 20–30m from the rocks. An RAF winchman was already aboard the fishing vessel to assess the situation. We were able to establish a tow and pull her away from the shore stern first to provide sea room before establishing a standard tow.'
Kevin added that, as the conditions in the Pentland Firth had deteriorated, it was decided to take the stricken boat to Longhope, escorted by Thurso RNLI lifeboat.
‘This was a good example of how the RNLI charity works with other search and rescue services and I am delighted at the positive outcome,' said Kevin.
‘If we had arrived later the outcome could have been different.'
Longhope Lifeboat Operations Manager Tony Trickett added: ‘The situation was critical and time was not on our side – but thanks to a superb boat and superb crew we did it.'
(an article from the RNLI Compass )
RNLI Compass is a quarterly printed round-up of regional stories that is mailed to all our members as a supplement to the Lifeboat magazine.
You can now view the stories from Compasshere, whether you are a member or not.
Please click here if you would like to support the RNLI by becoming a member and receiving print copies of RNLI Compass and the Lifeboat.
Margart Macdonald presents coxswain Ian Cormack with a cheque for £535.00 which was raised by running a charity concert.
Margaret, who has sung locally for a number of years, and Bob Turner, who plays guitar, have also teamed up recently to provide support to a charity concert in the Wick Youth Club. The concert was arranged to support the World War Two Bombing Victims Memorial Garden, planned for the bottom of the Black Stairs in Bank Row.
We would like to thank the artistes – Alistair Lamont, Raymond Bremner, Elise Lyall School of Dance, Emptyhouse, Bryan Coghill, Wick North Primary School 6/7 Choir, Philip Todd, Ceol Bhu Thuath and of course Wick RBLS Pipe Band for giving their services free of charge. Those who helped behind the scenes including James Steven and Chris Boxall on lights and Alan Farquhar and James Russell on sound. Also all the members of both our organisations who helped out on the night and donated prizes. The audience also deserve a big thank you for supporting the concert and ceilidh in such numbers and for their enthusiastic appreciation for all the acts. This was the first joint venture between our 2 organisations and we are delighted that over £2,000 has been raised for our funds.
Winner of our Model Severn Lifeboat drawn at the SOS dance was Shannon Freil of Dunnet.
Many thanks to Tesco's for allowing us to use their store to sell tickets.
Wick Lifeboat was called out on Sunday 21st October to assist a local vessel who reported that they were taking on water 10 miles North East of Wick, the 60ft vessel the Prolific had to be abandoned as she was taking on too much water for the pumps to cope. The three man crew had taken to the liferaft by the time the lifeboat came along side. The vessel sank shortly afterwards.
Photo (Caithness.org)
Christine Robertson receives a gift from Murray Lamont the Chaiman of the Wick RNLI Management Group for her services to fundraising for the Lifeboat
Tuesday 9th October Wick Lifeboat responds to a call to investigate an EPIRB alarm
Quayside held a musical night in the Seafoth club Wick, the event raised over £500.00 for Wick Lifeboat and a great night was had by all.
Are you interested in tracking shipping? or have you ever wondered what that ship was off the coast then this website may be of interest to you, it track ships using Automatic Identification System "AIS"
As part of the global maritime safety system, ships over 300 tons are now required to broadcast their positions using AIS.
A ship transmits "dynamic" information at intervals of between 2 and 12 seconds depending on the vessel's speed or 3 minutes if at anchor.
- MMSI number
- Navigation status, e.g. 'at anchor' or 'underway'
- Ground speed, from 0 to 102 knots in steps of 0.1 knots
- Rate of turn, 0 to 720 degrees per minute
- Position (GPS latitude and longitude)
- Heading and Course over Ground
-
Time stamp
This link will take you to the web-site
http://www.aisliverpool.co.uk/currentmap.php?map=Orkney
New accomodation at the harbour Blackstairs House
Also check out Martins Kilt Shop
New RNLI virtual pager for your pc
Over the RNLI's busiest weekend of the year, with up to 200 lifeboat launches anticipated for the August bank holiday, the charity is encouraging the public to show support by downloading a lifeboat launch alerter from rnli.org.uk/pager.
People can become ‘virtual crew members' from the comfort of their own homes or work places by logging on and registering their details to receive a free ‘pager' that displays on their computer desktops when a lifeboat is launched.
There is the option to choose launch alerts for individual lifeboat stations, regional groups of stations or all 232 stations around the coasts of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.
‘This is a fantastic opportunity for people to get involved in their local lifeboat station and the RNLI charity. We live in a digital age and we hope this virtual pager will bring the RNLI even closer to its supporters.'
The pager also includes a drop-down information banner with the latest RNLI information so supporters can keep up to date with what's going on within the charity as a whole.
The desktop pager can be programmed to start up as soon as the computer is switched on, and needs internet access to monitor launches. It works with operating systems up to and including Windows XP and Mac OS X.
Some kids enjoy the harbourfest, do you know who they are?
HarbourFest photo's
Fundraisers photo's "updated"
Wick's sea cadets return their boat to the sea after much hard work see the photo gallery of the restoration
Sea cadet boat restoration
New rescue helicopters for the Highlands
Wick medical centre lace up for save our soles day by wearing thier favourite pair of trainers- tied with special
lifeboat laces.
Wick Lifeboat was launched during the first week of December to assist a drifting Tanker the "Border Heather".
The Tanker with a crew of ten had broken down six miles off Noss Head in what the Coastguard described as awful weather with winds of a force 8-9 and heavy seas, the boat stood by whilst the Coastguard Tug the "Anglian Prince" was sent to assist.
The Border Heather
