Cardigan's RNLI volunteers who risk their lives to keep our shores safe

When the chips are down, the public looks to them for help.

The RNLI is no different – except for one major exception. It’s all down to volunteers who are funded entirely by charitable donations.

It’s all too easy to forget that fact, given the hugely professional level of service the RNLI provides and the Cardigan station at Poppit Sands is no different.

Come hell or high water, the 20 or so volunteers who man the station’s two boats will drop everything they are doing to risk their own lives to help save others.

From the emergency pager going off to launching one of the boats is between five and eight minutes. That’s a staggering response time but the well-drilled crews know that in life-and-death situations, every second counts.

As soon as the crew arrives at the station, it takes just 90 seconds to put on kit, made up of undersuit, drysuit, helmet and lifejacket, all laid out and ready to go in a specially heated room to keep everything dry and comfortable.

It can also be useful if a casualty is brought back in suffering from hypothermia.

“An inshore station response is so much quicker, with 70 per cent of lives saved by inshore lifeboats, which are the bread and butter of the service. They are so much more versatile than the bigger all-weather station boats which take time to launch,” said Environment Agency worker Mark Williams, a volunteer for 10 years.

The workhorse of the two boats based at Cardigan is the 4.9m long inflatable D-class, first introduced to the service in 1963 and still evolving all the time. 'Elsie Ida Mead’ can be manned by two men, ideally three and up to a maximum of four.

It costs £35,000 and is ideally suited to the environment in which it operates. It is highly manoeuvrable, durable – each side of the hull is split into five compartments in case one is holed - and usually operates closer to shore than the all-weather lifeboats.

“It comes into its own for searches and rescues in the surf, shallow water and confined locations - often close to cliffs, among rocks and even inside caves,” said Mark.

It can get into very tight spaces and gulleys and is ideal for backing up onto the base of cliffs and rocks to rescue people who are trapped.

For a small boat, it packs a big punch. There is an anchor at the front, along with a sea anchor. It has a VHF radio in constant contact with the Coastguard and other bodies plus a GPS system the same as on the all-weather boats.

Flares, torches, spare aerials, survivor pouches and throw lines are all stored in a pod at the front, along with the medical kit and oxygen.

Fuel tanks run down each side of the boat and the crew always alternate between them. When one is half empty, they switch to the other tank. If there is a problem with that tank, they always have enough fuel left in the original tank to get back home. A lot of redundancy is built into the boat for safety.

Powered by 50bhp two-stroke engine, it has a top speed of 25 knots and can spend three hours on the water before heading back in to refuel and change crews.

“The boat is not designed for absolute speed. In the choppy, shallow surf waters found in this area it is designed more for grunt and to cut through the white water,” said Simon Mansfield, who works for the NHS and another volunteer with 10 years’ service.

Air pump, tow line and ropes, running lights, search and rescue pattern cards, auxiliary propulsion (oars) and a spare prop complete the kit.

It weighs in at 435kg and three men can right it if it capsizes.

The second boat at the station - 'Albatross’ - is an Atlantic 85 B-class which costs £240K, measures 8.5m and weighs 1.7 tonnes.

A helmsman sits at the front and has independent control of both engine throttles. Effectively, the boat can spin on its axis. The crew sit behind the helmsman so they have microphones and speakers in their helmets to allow communication.

A water ballast tank in the nose holds a ton of water. It’s always full in Cardigan to cut through the surf and keep the nose down so the boat does not flip.

Behind the helmsman, there are two seats where the crew operate communications and navigation. The boat has GPS and radar, plus a VHF radar direction finder. Then there is the last seat – the dead man’s seat – as the rest of the crew cannot see him and who is hooked up to what is effectively a kill switch and alarmed.

Knives are positioned all the way along the boat – you never know when a rope might get tangled.

Gas cylinders help right boat if it capsizes. The B class has a manually operated righting mechanism in the event of a capsize which involves inflating a bag on top of the roll bar and there are tilt switches in the engines, two 115bhp four strokes, which again have been ‘RNLI’d’.

They will switch off automatically if the boat goes over and can then restart once the boat has been righted.

Again the boat can stay at sea for three hours at a top speed of 35 knots

The commitment the volunteers show is massive and the training as thorough as any of the main emergency services.

“You might see us out there training on a nice sunny day in a flat calm and think it all looks very easy and people think you are out on a bit of a ‘jolly’,” said Simon.

“What you won’t see is when we are out there at night, in the freezing cold and it is blowing a gale. The point is we have to spend so many hours out at sea to perfect our skills so we can go out in any weather.

“We have to trust each other with our lives and you cannot practice too much. The first priority is to look after the crew and the boat because if you don’t, you are of no use to any potential casualty.

“The hours we put in training are so important.”

So next time you see the Cardigan volunteers out on the water, bear that in mind. It might be your life they save one day.

As well as training at sea, it does not stop there. All the volunteers undergo extensive first aid training and are responsible for the day-to-day running of the station and maintaining the two lifeboats and all other equipment in tip-top condition.

It is certainly a labour of love, requiring hundreds of man hours but none of the volunteers begrudge a second of that time.

“Never apologise or feel guilty for calling us out. We would rather be called out too early and find that it is a false alarm than be too late. We love to put all of our training to good use. If you have any concerns at all, always call the Coastguard,” said Simon.

“We are all volunteers at this station and do the job because we love it and want to help people. Some other stations may have full-time staff but that’s not the case here. The boats and all the equipment is looked after and maintained on a voluntary basis.

“There is a lot of local knowledge at every station. Each location is different and the training we do will reflect that and we are no different.”

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