IT WILL be the first high-speed rescue boat of its kind in the country built to save hundreds of lives in Hampshire. 

The crew of volunteers at the Solent Rescue lifeboat station on Southampton Water have raised more than £100,000 in seven months to buy a new lifeboat with a unique design. 

The project by the lifeboats 16 volunteers, based at the station in Lepe Country Park, is the biggest since it started in 1971. 

The independent lifeboat charity operates under the control of HM Coastguard and will soon benefit from a unique design of a rigid inflatable boat (RIB) able to reach 40 knots, the highest for a rescue lifeboat. 

The boat will have a cabin to guarantee extra protection to the crew, and the durability of the design will allow the life-savers to patrol for longer hours and go into higher seas. 

The vessel, worth £140,000, will set sail for the Solent at the end of next spring and was bought with money raised through the sale of old boats and donations from national businesses, as well as a grant from the Government. 

Cameron Critchfield, treasurer and project manager, said: “The boat will be built just for us for the first time on our history. It’s such a complicated vessel to build and with it we will have the confidence to go out and provide a massively empowered service.”

The unique vessel will be built by the Gemini Marine UK, based in Lymington, which builds commercial and rescue boats. 

Iain Wood, company managing director, said: “We wanted to help Solent Rescue. 

“We focused on what they wanted and tried to meet the requirements needed. We work in the same industry and we knew what they were looking for.”

The work will start in Africa in the next two weeks and will be completed in Lymington by next spring. 

“We are hoping to use it between May and June, which is the sea-trial period and we want to demonstrate it at the commercial boat show in Southampton,” Mr Wood said. 

The launch of the project will also be supported by the Chewton Glenn Hotel in New Milton throughout the year. 

The Chewton Glenn picks four charities to support each year and this year the Solent Rescue lifeboat is one of those. 

Andrew Stembridge, managing director of Chewton Glen in New Milton, said: “The importance of the work of Solent Rescue was highlighted by a member of our staff who is also a volunteer for the charity. 

“Throughout the year, staff and management at the luxury five red-star hotel will host a series of special events to raise awareness and funds for these four charities and we will continue our £1 per person menu donation scheme, proceeds from which are divided equally between the charities.

"We are delighted to be associated with these excellent local organisations who provide such an inspiration to so many others. We look forward to supporting them in the months ahead.”