A RECENTLY-recruited volunteer crew member at Cardigan RNLI lifeboat station has had a vital part of his crew training funded by Lloyd’s Register Foundation.

Gareth Owen, 35, from St Dogmaels, recently travelled to the RNLI College in Poole, Dorset, to complete the charity’s Crew Emergency Procedures course.

Gareth was inspired to join up because growing up close to the River Teifi he used to watch the lifeboat going out on callouts as a young boy which inspired him to join the RNLI.

Gareth now has three children and his family spends a lot of time on the beach and Gareth was keen to give something back to his local community and joining the RNLI meant he was able to do this.

The course sees volunteer crew being trained in a variety of crucial subjects such as how to ‘abandon ship’ with a 4m jump into water, team survival swimming, coping in a life raft in simulated darkness, how to right a capsized inshore lifeboat, and the importance of lifejackets.

It also covers emergency fire theory such as how to deal with fires aboard lifeboats and practical sessions on the correct use of flares, fire extinguishers and throw bags.

Training took place in the Sea Survival Centre at the charity’s college, which includes a 25m wave-generating survival tank, allowing trainees to experience first-hand some of the scenarios they may encounter at sea should they ever need to abandon their lifeboat.

The training was funded by Lloyd’s Register Foundation, a charitable foundation that helps to protect life and property by supporting engineering-related education, public engagement and the application of research.

The Foundation is committed to funding the RNLI’s crew emergency procedures course for a second five-year period until December 2020. This additional funding of £1.06m will bring their total support for RNLI crew training to just over £2.46m.

Gareth said: “The training was excellent, the course was well constructed and planned, and the instructors were really helpful and encouraging.

“Everything we learnt during the course will be help me as a crew member and has provided me with skills and knowledge that I know I will be using on callouts in the future.”

David Knaggs, lifesaving delivery training manager at the RNLI said: “We are so grateful to Lloyd’s Register Foundation for choosing to fund this vital part of our volunteer crews’ training.

“This training is crucial in helping keep our volunteers as safe as possible while carrying out rescues. It gives volunteers the confidence to save lives even in the most difficult conditions.”