AN ABILITY TO KEEP ONE'S HEAD, regardless, seems to be one of the basic qualifications lifeboatmen need.

Especially when they find their world suddenly turned upside down.

Capsizing is not an everyday occurrence in the lifeboat service and most crew members will never experience it.

But if they do, they are going to be grateful if someone has told them what to expect.

Which is why Atlantic 21 crews find the familiarisation courses organised for them so useful. The courses, based at Yarmouth or Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, are offered to helmsmen and crews from stations which are given Atlantic 21 rigid inflatable lifeboats for the first time, and further courses are also organised at regular intervals to enable new crew members to be trained. Capsize drill is one of the most important and valuable sessions during the two-day programme.

The drill is held in a small dock next to Cowes base. The crew take their places on board and the boat is slowly capsized using canvas slings attached to a crane.

The process is agonisingly slow, with the crew hanging on to convenient holds such as the stirrups until the Atlantic, balancing on her sponson and with her hull well clear of the water, finally capsizes. In real life, of course, the process would probably not take more than a couple of seconds. Divisional Inspector John Unwin, who was on an Atlantic 21 when she was capsized in anger, said: 'It all happened so quickly. One second we could see we were going to capsize ("Here's another report to be sent to head office'." flashed through my mind) and the next we were over and checking that all three crew members were safe.

That is why the experience at Cowes is so useful: you know what to expect and you have gone through the drill in controlled conditions before you have to put it in practice in earnest.' In a genuine capsize, the odds are that the crew will stay with the boat and end up underneath her. And there is no better place to be to gather your thoughts.

Wind and rain may be lashing outside, but under the boat it is quiet, remarkably light and, thanks to the Atlantic's design, incredibly roomy.

First priority is a head count to make sure that everyone is there and no one is caught up; the second, to right the boat. Led by the helmsman the crew escape from under the boat at the same point, usually the shoulder just forward of the console and ideally on the starboard side. From there they make their way aft using the grab lines. Once the three crew have attached themselves to the lifelines and are clear of the boat Chris Rundle is one of the Minehead crew members who, together with crew members from Silloth, attended a two-day Atlantic 21 training course arranged by the RNLI Cowes base last autumn.the helmsman activates the selfrighting gear.

Most Atlantics are fitted with a sea anchor which deploys itself automatically in the event of a capsize. However, after one or two incidents in which the anchor released itself prematurely, the lid of the stowage locker on new boats and boats undergoing survey has been fitted with a spring clip. This, too, is released by a cable from the stern of the boat and, in typical RNLI style, the instruction plate next to the release only reads the right way up when the boat is inverted.

It takes the Atlantic about 12 to 16 seconds to right herself, after which the crew climb back on board between the engines, the safety lines are restowed and the engines started. It is a tribute to the skill of the staff at Cowes in making outboard motors watertight that even after a prolonged capsize drill, the engines fire faithfully first time.

Despite all the safety precautions, including a diver standing by, capsizing can still be something of a nerve-racker for those experiencing it for the first time, but it teaches lessons that will never be forgotten.

Other aspects of the course include working in the Solent with a naval helicopter, with the bonus of a quick flight for the lifeboat crews.

Beaching the Atlantic, although nothing new for anyone familiar with a D class inflatable lifeboat, is practised until everyone gets it right, and is followed by a session in the steep, confused seas over the Shingle Bank.

Crews on the course also carry out pacing trials alongside Yarmouth's 52ft Arun lifeboat, a demanding exercise in which the Atlantic is gradually eased in between the bow and stern waves until the two boats are running alongside at around 14 knots. No one pretends this is a manoeuvre that many helmsmen will be called on to carry out every week of their lives but it is an invaluable way to train helmsmen to use the throttles and steer one handed, and to build up confidence in the capabilities of a superb boat..