The crew, Ross Bowman, Rob Devo and Andy Hicks found the casualty swiftly, and brought him aboard the lifeboat to help warm him up. With Rob on the jet ski it was taken under tow back to Fisherman’s Quay in Littlehampton.

The casualty had no means of communication but had managed to flag down a passing vessel to get him assistance. He also had no life jacket and was wearing only shorts and a t-shirt. After dropping him on shore the crew gave him some safety advice for future use.

After every ‘shout’ the boat and shore crew have to clean the boat down, refuel and make sure all the equipment is ready to use for the next rescue. Whilst doing this today a gentleman approached one of the crew and said ‘What a good job you all do, I have been watching you work together, what a team you are.’ He then handed the crewman a £20 donation. Thank you anonymous gentleman.

Amongst other checks these basics checks are the first stage of many to keep safe afloat.

1. Have you enough within date serviceable life jackets for all on the boat?
2. Have you a VHF Radio to call for help? - Your VHF is far better than mobile phones as there are no cellphone masts at sea.
3. Have you a flares / spares kit on board & fresh drinking water?
4. Have you plenty of fuel including reserve for your time out at sea?
5. Have you a working pump or hand bailer in case of sudden water ingress?
6. Have you a kill cord fitted? Does it work? Check it, attach it and use it!
7. Always start and run your engine prior to going out. Does it Pump coolant?

These few basic checks will keep you safe, but there are more to help maintain that safety and always tell people where your are going and how long for!

Article by Littlehampton RNLI team member: Steve Howlett. 

Run on behalf of Arun District Council, the RNLI service will see two beach lifeguard units stationed at the town’s main beach near Harbour Park and near to the East Beach café. Lifeguards will be equipped with the latest water rescue and casualty care equipment, including rescue tubes, spinal boards and defibrillators.

Senior Lifeguard Manager Darren Lewis said: ‘Today is a proud day for the RNLI in Littlehampton. As the charity that saves lives at sea, we are delighted to be establishing our 200th lifeguarded beach in a town that has a long-held association with the RNLI. Building on the expertise we have developed through 12 years of providing beach patrols, our new lifeguards have been training hard in preparation for the season’s opening on Saturday. They will work closely with our colleagues at the lifeboat station to provide a seamless rescue service from the beach to the open sea.

‘The service will be run under the watchful eye of Lifeguard Supervisor Oliver Cona, who already saves lives as a volunteer crew member on the Littlehampton lifeboat.’

After a period of intensive training in rescue techniques and casualty care, lifeguards will patrol both beaches at weekends from 4 – 25 May, then daily until 8 September. They will be on hand from 10am to 6pm to provide beach safety advice and first aid, as well as assisting anyone who gets into difficulty in the water.

Nigel Lynn, Chief Executive at Arun District Council said: ‘This is great news for the local community and for the thousands of tourists who visit Littlehampton each year, and is the result of a great partnership between the RNLI and Arun District Council.

‘We are extremely proud to be the 200th beach to be patrolled by the RNLI, a fantastic charity which helps to save hundreds of lives every year.’

The RNLI began first provided lifeguarding services in south west England in 2001, and in the following years the service has steadily expanded across the UK and Ireland. In 2012 RNLI lifeguards responded to 14,519 incidents and assisted 16,414 on some of the UK and Ireland’s busiest beaches.

The RNLI’s new Beach Finder app enables users to search the UK for lifeguarded beaches and read up on local hazards. With real-time weather updates from the Met Office it also removes any doubt over whether to pack the umbrella or the sun cream! The app is available to download for Apple or Android devices at www.rnli.org/beach

The first event was a supper and quiz night at the Arun Yacht Club last Friday. Tickets sold out quickly and the evening was a roaring success. With 96 people attending, the club house was almost bursting with quizzers all raring to get their hands on the prize.

Epson, L. Guess Jewellers, Robert Dyas and many more companies donated amazing raffle prizes, all helping to boost the final total raised to £730. Well done to the winning team ‘Fuzzy Logic’ who won a paintballing experience for 10 and a rather splendid trophy.

The next event will be a boathouse sale of books and bric-a-brac on bank holiday Monday May 27 from 10am till 2pm. The ladies are very low on toys, kitchenware, jigsaw puzzles etc and would be grateful for any donations. Some of the girls will be at the lifeboat station on Sat May 25 from 10am till 12pm to collect goods for the sale.

The final event is on June 22 when 7 of the gals will be jumping from an aeroplane for a sponsored tandem parachute jump at Old Sarum airfield near Salisbury.

The ladies have a sponsorship form in the lifeboat shop at the station or alternatively a just giving page. www.justgiving.com/littlehamptonlifeboatladies

The first event is this weekend with an already sold out quiz night at the Arun Yacht Club, who kindly donated the venue for free. A sausage supper, fun, games and fantastic raffle with prizes donated from Robert Dyas, L. Guess Jewellers, Morrison’s and more. The winners of the night will receive a stunning trophy and a paintballing experience for 6.

The next event will be a boathouse sail of books and bric-a-brac on bank holiday Monday May 27 from 10am till 2pm. The ladies are very low on toys, kitchenware, jigsaw puzzles etc and would be grateful for any donations. Some of the girls will be at the lifeboat station on Sat May 25 from 10am till 12pm to collect goods for the sale.

The final event is on June 22 when 7 of the gals will be jumping from an aeroplane for a sponsored tandem parachute jump at Old Sarum airfield near Salisbury.

Emma White, volunteer press officer for the Littlehampton lifeboat station and organiser of the jump said,’ my husband runs the station and before that was crew for many years here and in Weston-super-Mare with 2 of his brothers. The station is a big part of our lives and as corny as it sounds our men give up a lot of their time training and rescuing people from the sea.  We thought we would try to do our bit by raising some money for our station, as most people know the RNLI is run completely from money donated by people like you and me. Who knows how much we will raise but we will do our best and how much fun will it be, a group of girls launching ourselves from a plane?’

The ladies have a sponsorship form in the lifeboat shop at the station or alternatively a just giving page. www.justgiving.com/littlehamptonlifeboatladies

This is not the first fundraising event for the RNLI that either helms have taken part in.  Rob helped organise and took part in the ‘Ramshackle Rally’ across Croatia last year, Howard has run several half and full marathons and both took part in the 24 hour rowathon at LittlehamptonTesco for SOS day this year.

Rob Devo said, ‘I have been on the RNLI lifeboat crew in Littlehampton for around 6 years. Each year we get called out around 100 times to help people in difficulties. This would not be possible with out your generous donations. The RNLI is run entirely on charity money raised and donated.’

‘This marathon has taken over my life recently. Running 4 times a week to prepare. Please take the time to give a small donation to help my motivation!’

Both Rob and Howard have justgiving pages:

www.justgiving.com/Rob-Devo
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/HowardsIronman

From 7pm – Quiz at 8pm

As part of our fundraising for 2013, Littlehampton RNLI is holding a quiz night to aid support of our Ladies, Friends & Family Parachute Jump on 22nd June 2013. We would love you to come along and support the RNLI crew & fundraising team at this family fun Quiz Night.

Only £10 per person

The price includes supper of Bangers, Mash & Peas plus full entry into the quiz & 1 FREE raffle ticket! A prize will go to the winning team on the night plus a raffle with some great prizes too! Donations can be made on the night or via Just Giving at www.justgiving.com/littlehamptonlifeboatladies

Contact us here for more info!

The crew of Littlehampton lifeboat station have had a gruelling 24 hours, but this time not saving lives at sea. This weekend saw them on an altogether different mode of transportation, raising money for the RNLI SOS national fundraising day.

Volunteer lifeboat crew, shore crew and fundraisers gathered at Littlehampton Tesco Friday at noon to begin a sponsored 24 hour rowathon on two rowing machines on loan from Inspire Leisure.  Each crewman had an allotted time to arrive and took turns doing ten minute sessions throughout the day, into the night and right through till midday Saturday.

The team of fundraisers, family and friends also made sure the boys and girls had plenty of support throughout the 24 hours, collecting donations from passing shoppers and encouraging them to take part in the guess the mileage competition.

A steady stream of Littlehampton’s lifeboat crew arrived and took part in the event including some family members, the lifeboat operations manager, the head of fundraising and even Tesco’s store manager took up the oars to lend a hand, but a core group, Gavin Simmons, Liam Clarke, Tom Bezzants, Warren Marden And Ian Foden stayed and rowed throughout the entire 24 hours, eating and some briefly sleeping in between sessions on the floor. The boys and girls rowed an amazing   376 miles.

Organiser Gavin Simmons Said ‘I didn’t realise that staying awake and motivated for 24 hours would be so hard, but the support and generous donations from the public really spurred us all on.  I’d like to say a massive thank you to those who took part in the row and helped in setting it up. I was surprised and very impressed with the distance we rowed’.

Crew and fundraisers also found time to bring the stations D-Class lifeboat ‘Spirit of Juniper’ into the town centre on Saturday morning. Armed with collection buckets and handfuls of stickers they found once again the people of Littlehampton to be very supportive.

The money raised from collection buckets at Tesco and the town centre plus the ‘just giving’ page and an event held in the White Hart, reached a total of £2799.57.

Nick White, operations manager from the lifeboat station said ‘A huge amount of effort went into raising money for SOS day, with a splendid result. The crew still have to collect sponsorship money which will almost certainly push the total over £3,000’.

‘Blue Peter 1’ the station’s Atlantic 75 lifeboat was launched at 14:11 in to rough sea’s and gale force winds. The crew Ivan Greer, Keith Booth and Lee Cullen located the casualty in the water clinging to his board and kite for floatation with some of the rigging lines painfully wrapped around the lower part of his leg. He was extremely cold and he estimated he had been in the water for about 40 minutes.

The crew administered first aid and helped him get warmed up on route back to the harbour at Littlehampton where an ambulance was arranged to be waiting for them. The casualty a 31 year old man was transferred over to the paramedics and taken to Worthing hospital.

Lifeboat operations manager Nick White said ‘The sea conditions were at the high end of the scale in which we can operate safely. Brad, the gentlemen we rescued, came to the boathouse the following morning to thank the crew; he knew how lucky he was to be rescued after spending so long in the water in those conditions’.