St. Helier RNLI lifeboat capsized in the name of safety

4 February 2009

The RNLI’s new Tamar class lifeboat, to be stationed at St. Helier later this year, was ‘rolled over’ on purpose yesterday, 3 February. The future George Sullivan underwent its self-righting trial at the main dockyard in Plymouth under the watchful eye of experts from the RNLI and Babcock Marine who are fitting the lifeboat out.

The Tamar, which will replace the RNLI’s Tyne class all-weather lifeboat at St. Helier later this year, is of the very latest in lifeboat design. She has a top speed of 25 knots, giving a faster response time, and boasts new safety features including an advanced seat design to reduce stress on the backs of volunteer crew members when they are at sea. New onboard computer controls mean remote management of many of the lifeboats functions and better task sharing amongst the crew.

Jonathan Lee, RNLI Press Officer at St. Helier, says the self-righting trial is a key moment in the new lifeboats development: ‘This self righting exercise really marks the start of our new lifeboat’s operational trials and means we are getting ever closer to the moment when she will arrive on station. Whilst we all hope that the new lifeboat will never be in the unfortunate position of capsizing, if such a terrible event should happen then at least we will know the lifeboat will right herself automatically.’

Andrew Hibbs, RNLI Coxswain at St. Helier, says: ‘It’s been a privilege to watch the St. Helier Tamar develop from a bare hull into the lifeboat that will help us save lives at sea in Island waters and all of us on the crew are just overwhelmed at the support from Islanders in raising the money to make this possible.’

As a registered charity, the RNLI relies on voluntary contributions and legacies to ensure its volunteer crews have the very best lifeboats, equipment and training to help them save lives at sea.

For more information, visit rnli.org.uk