New era of sea rescue

THE FUTURE of sea rescue is taking shape on the South coast. Tucked away at the very farthest point of a coastal harbour, an old Mercedes factory site is being transformed.

In just three months, the stunning new building at Poole will open as the Royal National Lifeboat Institution's £25m state-of-the-art training college.

It boasts 60 bedrooms, an IT suite, a restaurant and - a first for the organisation - an £8m survival centre complete with 25m pool for real-life boat capsize training.

Crucially, the centre will turn out around 1,500 top-qualified lifeboat men and women a year, capable of the most dramatic and terrifying sea rescues around the Solent's dangerous waters.

Around Southampton water, where yachting is big business in the summer and on bank holidays, a staggering 188 people were rescued last year, and 163 in 2002.

Between the Solent's three lifeboat stations at Calshot, Lymington and Yarmouth, there were 140 launches in 2003, compared to 103 the year before.

More than 90 per cent of these rescuers are ordinary teachers, shop- keepers, nurses and builders by day - RNLI bosses say it's a myth that most people come to them from nautical backgrounds such as the Navy or fishing business.

But after several weeks' intensive training they become a team capable of manning hovercrafts, ribs or a 54 ft-long all-weather lifeboat, helping to provide 24-hour cover from 230 stations nationwide.

Now that training will be provided in one top-of-the range centre, complete with a seaside setting and nautical theme.

College principal Sue Hennessy said: "Our training facilities that were new a few years ago now look very sad and inadequate. Our buildings just haven't kept pace with what we now have to deliver. This place will bring us huge advantages."

Trainees at the centre will be put through their paces in the four- metre-deep survival pool, where a full-size lifeboat will be lowered into the water on a crane.

The wave simulator can recreate swells of up to two metres - and in these stormy conditions, trainees will learn to cope with a chilly and potentially terrifying capsize.

A land-based lifeboat simulator, complete with shuddering, booming crashes to the hull and water spattering the windows, also gives would-be rescuers the chance to test out rare scenarios.

As the boat pitches and rolls, the crew will be under pressure to consider their approach to a burning oil tanker, or a sinking passenger ferry with hundreds of casualties.

For the first time, at the end of a draining day, trainees will be able to stay on

site rather than being sent off to nearby hotels.

They can eat in the centre restaurant with its magnificent harbour views or use the

fitness suite at the modern building, with

its porthole windows and bow-shaped wings.

Ms Hennessy added: "People come to us to train, often having to take time off work as holiday and leaving their families. Our volunteers give huge amounts to the organisation, and we want to make this an excellent venue for them to enjoy."

The centre also marks a new commercial beginning for the 180-year-old organisation.

Charity bosses plan to lease out the rooms and conference facilities to other organ-

isations to raise money to pay for the

centre.

St John Ambulance, international lifeboat services and local charities will be top of the list in hiring out the rooms.

Andrew Freemantle, RNLI's chief executive, said the centre, due to open in July, would provide unrivalled lifeboat training as well as raising cash to pay for itself.

"Lifeboat crews, staff and volunteers have come to Poole for a long time. We don't get money from the government or the National Lottery - we're not a public sector body - but it was decided that it would be better to put our money into this centre rather than leave it on the stock market.

"Our primary business is saving lives at sea, we're about lifeboats. But an organisation that stands still will not flourish."

For more information about becoming a volunteer at Hampshire's lifeboat stations, visit the RNLI's website a www.rnli.org.uk

NINETEEN RESCUED EVERY DAY:

The RNLI was found in 1824 by Sir William Hillary, himself a lifeboatman.

It provides, on call, permanent day and night cover up to 50 miles off the UK coast from 230 stations around the country.

There is one full-time mechanic at each all-weather station but all the crew earn their living outside the RNLI and simply rush to the

station when a shout comes in.

No charge is ever made to the people who are rescued because the RNLI feel it would discourage people in trouble from alerting the emergency services.

An average of 19 people are rescued every day throughout the country, and every day it costs £290,000 to run the service.

The RNLI's busiest station is on the Thames in London.

The RNLI also runs a beach rescue from 43 beaches in the south, including Boscombe and Bournemouth, employing more than 220 lifeguards equipped with four-wheel drive vehicles, rescue boats, rescue boards and a first aid kit.