RNLI Training Exercise at Downs Sailing Club
by Dave Webb 9 Jun 2014 06:49 PDT
7 June 2014
Exercise casulties waiting to be resuced during the RNLI Exercise at Downs Sailing Club © Jo Thomson
As part of the preparation planning for this year's National Youth Regatta being hosted at Deal in Kent from 20th to 25th July, a live training exercise took place at the Downs Sailing Club on 7th June with the RNLI and H.M. Coastguard. The exercise was organised by Dave Webb, Chairman of the Regatta "Wet" Committee, and fellow Downs S.C. member Andy Roberts.
"We are expecting over four hundred young competitors aged between 11 and 18 years of age from all over the UK to be participating in the event next month. To keep all these youngsters as safe as possible is a huge responsibility. Our safety team have put together a large fleet of safety patrol boats, and there will be two medics afloat at all times during the Regatta. So we are confident that we will be able to respond to and deal with any emergency that might reasonably be anticipated." explained Dave. "However, when dealing with Mother Nature, our experience has taught us always to expect the unexpected. So for this reason, we have put together a Critical Incident Plan after close consultation with the Emergency Services as well as the Dover District Council Safety Advisory Group."
"To test the Critical Incident Plan," continued Andy, "H.M. Coastguard facilitated an emergency response Table Top Exercise at the beginning of March at the Downs Sailing Club which involved the Emergency Services, DDC, Kent County Council, key volunteers from the Regatta organising committees and numerous other stakeholders. By reviewing the outcomes of the Table Top Exercise, we were able to put together a live exercise to test key areas of the plan".
The exercise was co-ordinated by the H.M. Coastguard Maritime Rescue Co-Ordination Centre at Dover, with a mobile Coastguard Team on the ground acting as their back-up, and involved both Walmer inshore lifeboats. Twenty youngsters from the Kent Schools Sailing Association Junior Racers programme volunteered to be "casualties", sailing their boats out from Downs Sailing Club before capsizing and waiting to be rescued. Some of the casualties had simulated wounds with fake blood, some were briefed to be unconscious or hypothermic, whilst the others just wanted a ride on a Lifeboat.
"The exercise was designed to test the Event Command and Control structure, the co-ordination and communication plans in place and the transfer of casualties from afloat to ashore, as well as giving the RNLI some practice at dealing with a large number of youngsters and small boats in the water at the same time," said Andy. "The de-brief session we had immediately after the exercise was extremely useful, and a number of lessons were learnt. One particular critical aspect of the exercise that went really well was the marking of boats with red and white tape when the crews were medi-vac'd ashore. This meant that when the Downs Sailing Club safety boats recovered the abandoned dinghies, they could be assured that the crews were safe and accounted for".
Dave summed the exercise up, "Everything went according to plan, and the exercise was a huge success. It gave us an opportunity to test our plans and systems in a live situation, and we learnt some lessons from it so it was hugely worthwhile. All the youngsters who volunteered to take part were brilliant, fully entering into the spirit of the exercise, whilst at the same time "keeping it real". My thanks to them – and their parents, as well as the Downs SC safety crews who had to mop up the remnants after the event, bringing all the abandoned boats back home. But my biggest thanks is to the Coastguard and RNLI for their interest, engagement, advice and proactive support. We hope to goodness that we won't have call upon them for real during our Regatta next month, but if we do I am confident that any critical incident will be contained".