Lifeboat crews from Burnham-On-Sea and Barry Dock teamed up for a joint training exercise on Sunday (February 16th) with a new Shannon class Lifeboat.
The new £2.78M Shannon class Lifeboat was welcomed into Barry Dock during the Spring of last year and since then it has been called out around 50 times with many more hours of crew training completed in that time.
Both Burnham’s D-Class and Atlantic 85 ILBs were launched to formally greet the new lifeboat and its visitors from Barry Dock.
They then welcomed Burnham’s crewmembers and family members aboard as it moored up at Burnham-On-Sea Sailing club.
Burnham-On-Sea RNLI Atlantic 85 helmsman Nathan Meager said: “This is the first time the new Shannon class lifeboat had visited Burnham so it was great to see her capabilities and train together.”
“After tours of the Shannon at the sailing club pontoons, we conducted a towing exercise involving both boats taking it in turns towing Barry Dock lifeboat in front of Burnham’s town beach.”
“Once concluded we did some slow speed transfers with Burnham’s Atlantic class lifeboat. Slow speed transfers involve the smaller inshore boats coming alongside the bigger all weather boat while both boats are moving, which we use to create a stable platform to transfer crew and casualties between both boats.”
Barry Dock RNLI Deputy Coxswain Hugh Davies added: “It was a fantastic opportunity to work alongside our colleagues at Burnham-On-Sea RNLI. Joint exercises like this are invaluable for strengthening teamwork and ensuring we’re all prepared to respond effectively when the call goes out.”
“The warm welcome from the Burnham crew was greatly appreciated, and the training was both productive and enjoyable. We’re proud to share the same lifesaving mission and look forward to working together again in the future.”
