Pett Level Independent Rescue Boat

The club’s speakers on 25^th October 2017 were Dave Martin, Chair, and Kevin Nuttall, launcher and general maintenance, of the Pett Level Independent Rescue Boat (PLIRB). Before becoming a registered charity in 1971 the service had been operated by the local fishing fraternity. As then, the service is completely independent of the RNLI and depends entirely on fund raising; annual running costs are about £15,000 and to kit a boatman out costs about £1000 and about eight sets of equipment are needed. The service was controlled by the Coastguard service from Dover but recently transferred to the Solent from where the “Shouts” come. Occasionally, in an emergency, the crew work with the RNLI service from Hastings, Rye and Dungeness, the nearest RNLI stations. Such was the case when they were called to Camber disaster where nine people lost their lives and in the search for a light aircraft which crashed into the sea. Generally their work consists of helping broken down yachts, rescuing people from the rising tides, particularly from under the cliffs, and wild life rescues in conjunction with Mallydams, the wildlife centre. Dave said that surprisingly some people didn’t know tides go in and out!

With two boats their service can be adapted as necessary and the smaller boat can be used to assist in inland flooding, such as occurred at Robertsbridge a few years back. The boats are launched into the sea by tractor, a vehicle that was obtained second hand at a good price and modified for launching so it can enter the sea itself. After five years the tractor is showing signs of wear and requires much maintenance. Launching can be achieved in twenty minutes and the boat can be on station off Camber in less than half an hour. The crew, all volunteers of mixed ages including local youngsters, are totally dedicated to the job and as Kevin described, “Amazing!”. Training, however, is not cheap and fund raising is an essential task for PLIRB.

Senlac President Elect, Dave Miles, said he had met Dave and Kevin at the Hastings Half Marathon and had become very interested in their work. He had been pleased to welcome them to the club and thanked them for such an interesting talk. Dave suggested that at a later date we should hold an auction for a ride in one of the boats with the winning bid being donated to PLIRB. In the meantime he was pleased to present them with a donation for their funds.