Healthy Exercises

This time of year is important for the lifeboat station. It is a moment when there aren't too many shouts and yet there is good enough weather and light to do essential repairs on the lifeboat and practice using lifesaving gear on dry land. Such practice is important, in that there is enough room for everybody to see and change places (each person needs to know exactly what the other people in the team are doing).

Amongst the essential repairs was an inspection/replacement of the chain linking our mooring ropes to the main chain (chaine mère), hidden in the slimy depths of the harbour. One of our crew members, Christophe, is a professional diver as well as a tugboat captain, and he volunteered to brave the none-too-clean waters of Port Vauban to have a look. Visibility is about 40cms, and boats pass all the time. Not a job for an amateur.

Here is the sequence, until he disappeared under the surface, bearing a bag of tools...


The seagull droppings are worthy of Steve Bell's If strip, and even more impressive when you realise that I had scrubbed the deck and railings the evening before.




He did come back, having duly repaired the chain.

The other tasks involved cleaning and doing an inventory on the lifesaving gear, including the vacuum stretchers, which start soft, but become rock hard when you pump the air out. They are really useful when evacuating a victim in confined spaces such as engine rooms or companionways. One of the new guys, Eric, wanted to see what it was like to be trussed up in one. So we belted him in and started pumping. We pumped enthusiastically, as we wanted the stretcher to be really, really hard. Then we left him on the quayside for a bit, and had coffee and home made cakes provided by Ludovic's mum...


And then we left him just a little bit bit more. When eventually released he asked us whether we gave out anxiety drugs to the victims, as he had felt like a turkey readied for the Christmas roast.