I’d like for the armchair captains in this comments to go and pull a 14-ton boat that far down to the sea on their own. Seems to be enough of them to do it... these tractors are strong, but they have treads and lots of torque so they are bound to go slow. A faster, wheeled approach would work for getting the boat there, but wouldn’t have a chance of getting back up the slipway with a boat in tow. Yes, it’s the difference between life and death, but in the 1800s when they had horses and oars the travel time from slipway to rescue would be so much longer than using an engine so it more than covers its back on time to rescue, unless the problem is right outside the harbour in which case they use the RIB - no need for an offshore lifeboat then. If they had a slipway they’d use it but on a pre-built harbour, and with the RNLI unable to fund their own slipway close enough to the sea (over the harbour wall is a 100m long stretch of rocks that they kind of can’t launch down) or to buy up the nearby houses, it’s not possible.
Thanks for this ! Someone who sees sense. I am a regular visitor to Seahouses and the harbour isn’t designed for a boat like that to be launched into the sea off a slipway. When it’s low tide it is very low and a lot of the Farne Island cruises have to launch from the steps. A lot of rocks are exposed at low tide as well at the back of the harbour so it wouldn’t be safe to launch off a slipway.
+Christopher Fisher They tell her tale on the Farne Island boat trips and go and show you Longstone Lighthouse where she lived and the route of her rescue.
Yes... if there was a pier there. There's a fair bit of variety in how the lifeboats are launched from different stations because there are a heck of a lot of stations and not all of them have a handy pier/harbour/slipway nearby. Some (mostly the largest ones from what I've seen) are kept afloat all the time but I think it's prefered to keep them onshore. Also, regarding the cost side of things, most lifeboats aren't ridiculously busy (certainly not all year long) so keeping the boats out of the water helps in terms of maintaining and keeping them clean.
with a mobile slipway, the boats can be launched from anywhere when you think about it . not just in a fixed location near the life station building. hats off to these people of the sea.
Off season launch? I assume a boat of that size is kept in the water during regular boating season? In our department, sometimes we are called to help with a boat rescue in the winter, and it can take up to an hour to get one or more of our boats out of winter garage storage. Neighboring depts with docks have larger boats kept emergency ready all year in the water.
When the tide is low, the boats that stay in the water lay on the bottom of the harbour in Seahouses. (Check Google Street View: goo.gl/maps/BSPmwUoytGk)
It seems like a slipway launch is possible here, but I'm going to guess this has a very high tidal range and a raised boathouse is not possible, that's the only reason I can think of
What a palaver. The real Grace Darling would have been there and back by now. You should sell the lifeboat and use the proceeds to buy the house opposite the slipway.
I get that this is at a location affected by tides. But there's gotta be a faster way to get that boat launched. It appeared that most of the men were on board already when the tractor pulled it from the shed. Get a stronger truck, or put the boat in a spot closer to the slipway. Obviously once under way the boat gets to the spot quickly. But starting a rescue helicopter is faster than getting this boat in the water.
another complete idiot who has no clue about rnli procedures or respect for what they do they cant wheel spin out of the boat house and hurtle down a road like they are at a race coarse they like any other service have strict procedures to abide to for theirs and the publics safety and got to say people like you who come out with pathetic comments really piss me off
Poor souls could have drowned by the time they get that boat launched, they should keep it in the water ready to go, or build a slipway for it. I am sure the brave lifeboat men would prefer to get away as quick as possible.
There's a considerable tidal range at this station, this type of launch is used at a number of stations with the same issue or if there is no harbour at all eg skegness, there are stations that have there boats in the water if the harbour is deep enough and some that launch from a slip way, most of the inshore lifeboats and the hovercrafts launch by tractor as well apart from those on the Thames, if this station was any closer to the water then in a bad storm they would not be able to get in the station to launch in the first place the RNLI have been doing this since they went out in wooden boats with oars and really do know what they are doing, there's a TV series "saving lives at sea" which shows rescues from multiple types of stations and launch processes that is on RU-vid which you may find useful
