Rescuers circumnavigate Britain to raise rescue money

by RNLI/Sail-World on 10 Sep 2013 A team of search and rescue workers from the East Midlands is embarked on an unusual way of raising money to keep the rescue services of Britain going. They are 'sailing' around 1,999 miles of British coastline in a small inflatable boat.

The team, mainly from Derbyshire, began at Poole Harbour and will visit eight lifeboat stations before finishing at a Dorset RNLI college.

They aim to raise £20,000 for two search and rescue organisations.

The challenge has other 999 themes; the team aims to complete the challenge in nine days, nine hours and nine minutes.

Money raised will go to both the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and Watersafe UK Search & Rescue Team.

Both are volunteer search and rescue teams.

The challenge team of 10 will use a 5m (16ft) open rigid inflatable boat and will sail clockwise around the British coastline.

On each leg of this challenge there will be a crew of four in the boat at all times and the main reason for this is for safety. As well as obviously needing a driver, there will be a person responsible for navigation and the other crew members will be responsible for the smooth running of the boat as well as safety officers looking out for dangers and communicating with the driver and rest of the crew.

Once out at sea they will be totally alone and responsible for themselves and therefore self sufficient on each leg of the challenge.

Here are the dates where you can expect their arrival:

9 September 2013 - Poole to Bude, England.
10 September 2013 - Bude to Beaumaris, North Wales.
11 September 2013 - Beaumaris to Stranraer, Scotland.
12 September 2013 - Stranraer to Kyle of Lochalsh, Scotland.
13 September 2013 - Kyle of Lochalsh to Wick, Scotland.
14 September 2013 - Wick to North Berwick, Scotland.
15 September 2013 - North Berwick to Cleethorpes, England.
16 September 2013 - Cleethorpes to Margate, England.
17 September 2013 - Margate to Poole.