FEATURE
- life
Vital minutes
could save lives
Challenges at sea are all in
a day’s work for the crew of
Sandown and Shanklin Inshore
Lifeboat.
value days. Two families, up to 10
people, bring a hamper and yacht
around the Solent in real style and
all this from £438+VAT.
If you enjoy being on the water,
but never really were attracted
to charter you will be interested
to experience yachts as beautiful
as this, glinting varnish, shining
chrome and a real pleasure to sail.
For more information, go to
www.classicyachtcharters.co.uk
Island Life - www.isleofwight.net
But this year their principle
challenge is a land based one
– how to raise £100,000 for a new
boathouse.
According to the Isle of Wight’s
cliff erosion experts, the current
boathouse is set too close to the cliff
and will have to move.
Ron Teasedale of the SSIL
explained they have managed to
arrange a land swap with the Sea
Scouts who had a much larger plot.
He says: “All the planning and
building regulations are in place,
now we just need the funds.
“We normally run three lotteries
each year but this year we are
launching one big one that will last
the whole summer from Easter until
October.
“The first prize is a brand new car
and the second prize is a scooter.
“We’re hoping that this will raise
us a considerable
amount
of
funds.”
Although the
inshore lifeboats
around
the
island (there are
two others in
Freshwater and
Cowes)
have
good working
relationships
with the RNLI
they receive no funding from that
organisation whatsoever.
At Sandown and Shanklin there
are 16 volunteers who man the
lifeboat 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week for 365 days a year.
And the area they cover is
substantial, running from Culver
Cliff to St Catherine’s Point.
One of the great advantages of the
new boathouse is that it could shave
minutes off the lifeboat’s current
launch times.
Ron adds: “At the moment where
the boathouse is sideways on to the
slipway the tractor has to make four
separatemanoeuvresbeforetheboat
can be launched.
“With the new boathouse there
will be much less work for the
tractor to do as the boathouse will
be facing the slipway already.
Anyone wanting more information
on the work of the inshore lifeboat,
or who would like to make a
donation can do so online at www.
sandownlifeboat.com
39