THE ATLANTIC 21 rigid inflatable has proved one of the most successful of the Institution's modern lifeboats and 30 are now on station. With an overall length of 22ft 9in, a rigid GRP hull and inflatable neoprene tube 'bulwarks', or sponsons, she is seaworthy, fast and very manoeuvrable. Since their introduction into the RNLI's fleet in 1972 Atlantics have launched on service about 5,000 times and rescued 1,709 people; 1,403 of those services were performed at night and 204 in winds of near gale, force 7, or over. Atlantics have landed a further 851 people and saved 1,428 craft of one kind and another.

Quite an impressive record in itself.

During these 11 years of service, three silver and ten bronze medals have been awarded to helmsman or crew members of Atlantics for outstanding gallantry.

The development of the Atlantic 21 has been the special care of the RNLI base at Cowes under the guidance, until his recent retirement, of Lt David Stogdon. In the years in which the present Atlantic has evolved, many crew members have helped the Cowes base team with evaluation of new ideas and sea trials at Cowes as well as on station. It was to Cowes, therefore, that last October three helmsmen, all of whom have been awarded medals for gallantry for services performed in Atlantic 21s, came to discuss her design, characteristics and handling with members of staff responsible for the boat's building, maintenance and operation, and also with the training of crew members. The helmsmen were Frank Dunster from Hayling Island, John Hodder from Lyme Regis and Roger Trigg from Southwold; talking with them were Lt-Cdr Michael Woodroffe, staff officer operations (1) with particular responsibility for lifeboats under 10 metres, Michael Brinton, deputy superintendent (Cowes) who has been concerned with the development of the Atlantic 21 from the very beginning, and Michael Butler who has taken part in most of the sea trials and helped run the crew training programme.

Unfortunately, Lt Stogdon himself was abroad and unable to take part in the discussion, but as an introduction, here is his description of the boat and some of his comments: The Atlantic 21, with her rigid hull and inflatable sponson, is really a surf board with a shaped bow, but with greater stability because of her buoyant tubes. There are important differences between the Atlantic 21 and all other lifeboats, whether thev are the larger. conventional lifeboats with twin diesel engines or the smaller purely inflatable boats.

Unlike the larger boats, the Atlantic has dual characteristics, combining as she does the advantages of a swift, responsive surf board and a very stable liferaft. Under way, she drives over the seas on her surf board-like rigid hull, so that she can obtain speeds of up to 30 knots; but when stopped, with the broad beam and buoyancy of her sponsons, she forms a very stable working platform more like a liferaft. As weight is added, so her stability increases. When survivors are taken on board, the boat sits down further in the water, her beam increases and her sponsons provide buoyancy over a much wider area. The buoyancy tubes, or sponsons, also ensure that, when the boat is in an inverted, or in the capsized position, a pocket of air in which anyone under the boat can survive is formed between the water and the inverted deck—and, indeed, in this air pocket the crew can recover their breath in comparative calm for a minute or two before swimming out from under the hull, righting the boat and reboarding her.

The rigid inflatable Atlantic is, of course, a larger boat than the RNLI D class purely inflatable lifeboat, and once again of a very different character. There are for instance, seats for each of the three-man crew on the central console and the helmsman can have wheel steering.

As the Atlantic is powered bv twin outboard engines, wheel steering is essential so that, in bad weather, the helmsman can steer with one hand and keep the other hand on the throttle controls; in this way speed can be adjusted immediately to the seas.

The Atlantic 21, under twin 60 hp outboard engines, has the power, and therefore the speed, to get herself out of trouble. She may not always need to drive at her 30 knots but the power is there to give her a quick burst of speed when necessary. Running in shallow water in bad weather she has enough power to be steered round breaking crests which might threaten her. Beam on, she can turn her quarter to the sea and run clear.

Because of her console seats, lifeboatmen in an Atlantic have a better height of eye when searching for people among waves than they would have in an inflatable. The Atlantic, of course, has a righting capability, with an air bag housed in a gantry aft. This gantry can also carry steaming lights, so that the Atlantic can operate at night.

1 am sure the boat is safer driven fairlyhard, making the most of the sea state rather than going very slowly and being caught by the sea. In rough weather at night, however, when he cannot see the seas, the helmsman has to be extremely careful. It is so difficult, particularly when heading into wind and sea. When you are moving at your chosen speed, you just cannot read in the darkness what is happening to the seas ahead of you. You do not even know when you are going to drop through the air. It all looks level. You only see the white tops; you do not see the big holes. You have to go very carefully and alwavs be readv to get out of trouble with a burst of power.

Two other points I should like to make. The first is that if one engine should fail, it is probably better to leave it down than to tilt it up. With two engines down you will go more slowly, but I think it is better to have more rudder control rather than a slight increase in speed. You have not, of course, got the same margin of safetv with onlv one engine as vou have with the two. To gain that, more powerful outboards would be needed. The trouble is that more powerful engines will add weight aft and they would need to be balanced by moving weight forward. It is a problem to which a solution is being sought but to which a satisfactory answer has not yet been found.

The other point I should like to emphasise is that it is most important when anchoring an Atlantic to lead the anchor cable through the fairlead in the bow. A cable led off over the shoulder of the boat can induce a capsize.

These are just a few thoughts, but the crew members who are coming to Cowes and mv colleagues there know more about handling the Atlantic than I do because they have spent so much time at sea in them . . .

A disclaimer such as would only be expected from David Stogdon despite his unique knowledge of the Atlantic, but let us go on to those to whom he has passed the baton . . .

Lt-Cdr Michael Woodrofle, staff officer operations (1): Undoubtedly there are differences between! the Atlantic 21 rigid inflatable lifeboat and her little sister the D class inflatable on the one hand and her big sister the conventional lifeboat on the other. Where do you think the Atlantic wins? Helmsman Roger Trigg, Southwold: The greatest advantages the Atlantic has over the D class inflatable stem from the fact that the Atlantic has two engines: more reliability, better seakeeping and of course more power.

Then, with navigation lights and searchlights, she has the capability of night work and she has a righting capability, too. When it comes to conventional lifeboats, there are things to be said for and against on both sides, but for working inshore, say up to ten miles off.

the Atlantic has the great advantage of being a very fast lifeboat; she can get to a casualty and take the people off. or pick them up out of the water, very quickly.

Helmsman Frank Dunster, Hayling Island: I did at least six years, messing around in inflatable boats—nothing to do with the RNLI—and then I did five or six years in Atlantics. Recently I went back to a D class inflatable lifeboat and it was like the difference between driving a Mini and a Rolls Royce. All in all, with her speed and manoeuvrability and her ability to take most seas, the Atlantic is definitely superior to the D class inflatable.

Helmsman John Hodder, Lyme Regis: After our D class we had a Dell Quay Dory with a stand-up steering position for the helmsman, but I would say that vision is still much better in the Atlantic than in the Dory. Her seakeeping qualities are superior, too, and the crew, with a seated position, are more comfortable.

And, of course, in most seas the Atlantic is a heck of a lot drier than the D class.

Michael Butler, Cowes: This question of vision—all three of the Atlantic crew can see the state of the sea as the helmsman is driving into it. They can pick the sea and they can brace themselves to meet it. That is important.

Michael Brinton, deputy superintendent (Cowes): You know, it is really unfair to compare the D class inflatable, which is only 15ft 6in overall, with the Atlantic..

It's horses for courses. For instance, at most stations you need rather more complicated launching arrangements for an Atlantic 21 than you do for a D class boat. Four men can launch an inflatable boat quite easily from the beach, which is more than you can do with an Atlantic.

Woodroffe: We have already touched on the power and speed you have at your fingertips in an Atlantic, but considerable skill is needed in driving the boat not only fast but safely as well. Do you agree, Roger? Trigg: Yes, I agree with that entirely.

With the Atlantic 21 a lot of it is practice; getting the feel of the boat and her engines, the feel of the wheel and of the actual seas. It all has to come together into one as you are driving. Of course you do not have to drive at 30 knots all the time. Unless full speed is necessary, it is better for the crew if speed is reduced a bit: they do not get so bounced about. But it is nice to have that extra 10 knots up your sleeve so that when you see a wave coming that you know you must avoid, you have the power to run away from it, or change direction and steer round it.

Woodroffe: We are all very happy with the twin engine performance of the Atlantic 21 at 30 knots, but we all recognise the shortfall on one engine.

Mike, you have had a great deal to do with Atlantics, right from their inception.

What are your thoughts? Brinton: If you are down to one 60 hp engine, I doubt whether you have enough power to get home across a bar in really bad weather. But perhaps the helmsmen have more experience of these conditions than I have.

Hodder: We have no bar in our bay, but I should not like to be in very rough weather with just one engine. It would not be so bad going into the sea, but if it were a stern quarter sea, it would be really hairy. I think you have got to look for something far in excess of 60 hp for safety with only one engine.

Woodroffe: We are trying a boat with twin 70 hp outboard engines, to try to improve single engine performance.

Brinton: I do not think twin engine performance will be greatly increased with 70 hp; we will probably get about 33 knots. But what we are hoping is that, when down to a single engine, we can get something like 14 or 15 knots to enable the boat to get back or even, perhaps, complete the service.

While we are talking about driving with a single engine, the practice used to be that if one engine failed, that engine should be tilted while we came in on the other. But experience has shown that it is better to leave the damaged engine down, because you gain more from the rudder effect of that engine than you do from the loss of performance due to drag.

Hodder: We have always done this.

Dunster: We had an experience when one engine was working properly but the other was running on only one cylinder. We were running before rough following seas and the reduced power on one engine meant that we were only doing about 20 knots or so. When we caught up the wave in front we went even slower, so that we had no power to pull clear of the wave behind. The seas were so close together that with two engines but one on only one cylinder, we were tending to corkscrew into the wave in front with the wave behind carrying us forward. I feel sure that, in that situation, if one engine had failed completely and we had raised it, we could well have broached and possibly have capsized.

Woodroffe: The Atlantic 21 has been developed to be stationed all round the coast and has got to be all things to all people. Even in the small section of coast you three helmsman represent, from Southwold round to Lyme Regis, local conditions, and so the ways you operate the boat, vary tremendously.

Thought is being given to whether we need the flat run aft on the bottom of the boat, or whether a deep vee section throughout the hull's length would give a softer ride. The flat is necessary for beaching but. in fact, the Atlantic is not very often beached on service. As secondary function, the flat helps to get the boat up on the plane earlier than deep vee hull. Roger, you have had experience of both kinds of boat. How do you feel the Atlantic compares with a deep vee rigid inflatable hull? Trigg: I do not think you can get away with abandoning the Atlantic's flat run aft, although you could probably reduce it a little; that would probably give you a softer ride. But, with a deep vee hull found it very difficult to get up on the plane when an extra burst was needed to drive over a sea or away from a sea to get out of trouble. With the Atlantic, as soon as power is put on, it is positive.

She's off. The flat brings the whole boat up and she's away. And, because a deep vee hull is slower to get up on the plane, it tends to put the boat at the wrong attitude to the sea; while she is waiting for the power to lift her up and bring her level, her nose is sticking up. If you are going into sea and wind, perhaps with another sea about three feet behind the one you are approaching, it is not a very good attitude in which to be.

I would rather put up with a bit of slamming and have the instant power which makes it possible to get around that sea. or up and over it. And another thing: a deep vee rigid inflatable does not like to run on a following sea like the Atlantic does with her flat. For the waters round Southwold. where we get short seas and bars, I should like to see the planing flat retained on the Atlantic, even though we never beach our boat.

Brinton: The flat certainly gives you directional stability and is also aids acceleration. The other important thing is that it will allow the sea to slide underneath you, or the boat to slide down a sea, whereas a deep vee boat would not necessarily do that. I am personally a flat man.

Hodder: In our area the seas are long, and, using the throttle, slamming can be controlled to quite a degree. We do not get the slamming you are talking about.

Woodroffe: Mike, you have taken the Atlantic 21 on the Shingle Bank in rough weather many times. What are your thoughts on her handling and her seakeeping? Butler: I find that as long as the engines are running all right there are no problems at all with handling the boat as she is at the moment. The more you drive her, the more you get used to her, and this is very important. The more actual sea experience crews get on the coast the better.

Woodroffe: What about anchoring an Atlantic? Dunster: We never anchor except on divisional inspector's exercises. You see, we find that as the Atlantic has so much manoeuvrability, you can go into shallow water, get close to a casualty and away in seconds. It would be a waste of valuable time to use the anchor: it takes a long time to put it out satisfactorily.

Woodroffe: You have used the anchor in anger at Lyme. haven't you, John? Hodder: Yes, on about four occasions. I suppose, in the eight or nine years we have had an Atlantic.

Woodroffe: To anchor and veer down? Hodder: Yes, when we were working close in on a very rocky stretch of the coast. On one occasion we had to put a doctor down to someone at the base of the cliffs. We found that dropping the anchor and veering down was fine, but when we were trying to come out through broken water and recover the anchor it was a bit tricky. We did not stow our anchor warp until we got back into harbour, we just stowed the anchor itself. Whether it is used much or not, however, I am sure it is necessary to carry an anchor.

Woodroffe: We are trying out a new stowage system at the moment with the anchor stowed vertically on the corner of the console and its warp on a reel.

We have got two station and two relief boats fitted out this way and reports back from the coast are encouraging.

Hodder: I should think that would be a far better system.

Trigg: We have never used the anchor in anger in the 11 years we have had an Atlantic. We did once lend the anchor to a ketch blown ashore in a nasty breeze, to prevent her being blown further up the shore. So, although we did not use the anchor ourselves, it was handy to have it. But, as Frank has said, we only use the anchor on divisional inspector's exercises; it is very good holding ground off Southwold. so we end up having to get a fishing boat to come and retrieve it the next morning! Woodroffe: What about towing? Trigg: Most stations have their own method of towing with the Atlantic 21.

We carry a bridle ready made up with an eye on it and we also carry a towing line. We run the bridle out through the engines and tow from the bridle so that the line is clear of the engines. Neither fishermen nor yachtsmen want to leave their boats, so usually the only way to help them or rescue them is to tow them. We are a long way from a station with a larger lifeboat on which we could call to come and do the towing. Some Atlantic stations, where the boats are kept on a quay and lifted in and out by crane, cradled in nylon webbing straps, use these lifting straps as the towing bridle. The straps, which have metal eyes, work from the centre of the console. That sort of a bridle gives them much more manoeuvrability when towing.

Dunster: At Hayling we have rigged up our own system. We run a bridle from the two lifting eyes on the port and starboard sponsons with an eye spliced at the joint behind the console. We can then pull the towline through the eye and secure it with a fid, which allows for quick and safe disconnection of the tow in an emergency. Then we have put a bar across the righting gantry, which lifts the towline above the engines, and that gives us all the steering manoeuvrability that we can possibly need. It has never failed.

We also find that the Atlantic is very good at towing alongside. We once towed in a 23ft yacht, virtually the same length as the Atlantic, in this way. The yacht's own cleat had pulled out while another boat was towing her. So we decided to try towing alongside. We had no problems in the following seas going across the bar, although they were very rough, because every time we lifted, the yacht lifted, and every time we fell into a trough, the yacht fell into a trough.

The two boats acted in unison and the tow was extremely easy; with a larger boat, if it were not positioned quite right, so that the two were acting independently, we might have had problems.

We mainly tow back into harbour, which means we are usually in following seas, and we do find, with bigger yachts, the tail can wag the dog. We have to be very careful to keep constant tension on the towline and not to let the rope go slack, to avoid heavy jerking.

Hodder: A good deal of our work is towing; we have towed anything up to fairly large trawlers with no problems at all. We have a very long bridle, say about 25 metres, and a very long tow rope. Obviously, the length of the rope depends on the size of the vessel we are towing. If necessary we weight the centre of the line with a tyre or a couple of floats, just to take up any slack that comes in the line. We have never had a bad tow yet; it has always worked well, in fact most of the people we have towed have said they have never gone so fast.

Dunster: We got a yacht up on the plane once! Woodroffe: The Atlantic 21 of today is a vastly better boat than she was when she was first introduced in 1972, due to the continual search for improvement by Cowes base and their talent for innovation. We are still looking for possible improvements, particularly if they offer protection for the crews.

Windscreens, for instance, and clothing.

Trigg: Since the Atlantic started she has been improved every year, mainly, as you say, through the efforts of Cowes base. What has been done in the past ten or eleven years has been quite amazing. She was virtually a surf board with an inflatable tube round it; then came the roll bar, righting, different consoles, different stowages, different electrics, different steering, watertighting of the engines. Even now we are talking about an improved anchor stowage.

I think we have really gone as far as we can with the Atlantic. I do not think much can be improved upon without going to a different type of boat altogether.

I have not seen the windscreen. I know helmsmen and crew do complain that they cannot see. I do not particularly mind, probably because I have got used to driving the boat in sleet and snow. You tend to have your eyes closed for a few moments and then open.

I have found that most of the crew who have tried helmets or bump caps with visors or goggles have gone back to using their own eyes. I do not know how a windscreen would affect visibility, unless it was just something to duck down under now and again to keep out the wind.

For clothing, I think the dry suit is as good as anything, providing you have got thermal gear on underneath; it is much too cold in winter to wear normal clothes underneath.

Woodroffe: Mick, what do you think are the significant improvements in the past ten years? Butler: I would say the main thing is the improved crew protection. People can go to sea in really severe conditions. I also believe that crews should use the helmet and visor. That is a must. The windscreen still has to be developed, but I think that will come, too. But if you keep adding gear and weight maybe there will be a call for a slightly larger boat. I think we have gone about as far as we can with the 21.

Hodder: I have not seen the windscreens so I cannot speak from experience, but I am not keen on the idea. We had a windscreen on our Dory, which, OK, had a standing steering position, but the windscreen tended to get broken very easily. Also, around our area, the sea is like a minefield with nets and lobster pots. You are going to spend more time looking out over the windscreen, to find corks and floats, than sheltering behind it.

As to gear, I should like to see something done to give the helmsman's hands a bit more protection than they have now.

Brinton: I think the only sort of windscreen you can have on an Atlantic is one that ends at eye level, so that you can either look over it or duck down below. You cannot be permanently down under it.

Woodroffe: Frank, what additional piece of equipment would have helped you most, either on the boat or for the men, on your two medal services? Dunster: On one of our medal services (see below), we had already done one rescue and we were coming back down the harbour very slowly against gale force winds and torrential rain. It was very uncomfortable. Then we were called to someone trapped on a breakwater underneath the sea wall and it was obviously an emergency. So we had to go flat out into that wind and rain. Now, whereas previously it had been totally uncomfortable and unbearable, with the excitement, if you like, of the situation, the spur of having to get to the person in trouble as soon as possible, when we were going flat out into the bad conditions we were totally unaware of it. That was a very important discovery.

I agree with Roger that a thermal suit underneath the dry suit is a perfect combination, coupled with a windproof jacket over the top. I do not think there is an answer to the hand problem, although woollen mittens do take a bit of the chill off. Some of us at Hayling go diving or windsurfing throughout the year, including in cold and icy conditions.

We have tried every conceivable kind of hand protection, including washing up gloves over thermal gloves, but we have found no good solution.

Woodroffe: Roger, your medal service (see below) was done in snow, wasn't it? Trigg: Yes, darkness and snow. That night we went out to the fishing boat Concord I did not expect to be out so long; I just put on a dry suit over a jersey and I did not take a hat as I normally do. We were out about three or four hours in the snow and I was absolutely frozen at the end of it. I really missed my hat; you lose a great deal of heat through your head. The other members of the crew were wearing their own suits with hoods, made for use in oil rigs, and they kept warm.

Woodroffe: Would a windscreen have helped? Trigg: No, I don't think it would. You could not see anything anyway and there was far too much sea to be belting along at 30 knots. The boat did all she was asked, probably more—and so did my crew. It is quite amazing what the Atlantic can do, and it is a credit to her designers and builders.

Hodder: Our service (see below) was before we had dry suits. We were wearing smocks and chest waders and we were drenched. Now, with the total immersion suits, we stay completely dry.

Woodroffe: Perhaps we could talk about handling the Atlantic 21. Frank, would you like to start this ball rolling? Dunster: We find the Atlantic a joy to drive in a following sea: you can go flat out and there is absolutely no danger of broaching providing both your engines are in tune. The only proviso is that in a following sea, when you catch up the wave in front, if it is a fairly big one, you must ease up a fraction to avoid the bow digging in. We had a very interesting experience which shows just how good a boat an Atlantic is. It was night time, and we were taking some new auxiliary coastguards to sea. We were five up in an Atlantic in a big following sea and because of the darkness we misjudged the wave in front of us. It was too big, The bow dug right in, stopping the boat dead, and the action of the bow in the water actually tossed half of the wave back on to us and the entire boat was full of water. Then the wave behind caught us up. But although we were stopped dead, the Atlantic stayed in a straight line and the engines, which were still in full ahead, then responded and the boat carried on her course.

Now, that shows what a splendid boat the Atlantic is in a following sea.

Brinton: When you stopped dead and you had half the wave back on board the boat, what happened to the crew and passengers? Dunster: We had made sure that everyone was properly seated. The wave went over the helmsman's head, filled up the console well, where the two crew were sitting, and went down everyone's neck. There was so much water in the boat that it was nearly at the top of the sponsons.

So that is running. In a beam sea you can go flat out and either turn into a rogue sea or away from it, with no problems. In a head sea, particularly when the seas are close together, we find there is a set technique. You must ease up on the throttles and make sure that when you are lifted over the top of a wave, your engines are shut down, or even put in neutral. Then, when you land in a trough, your engines will respond immediately. If you have got too much power on when you take off from a wave, your propellers will start to race so that, when you land in a trough and there is another wave coming up straight away, the aeriation. or cavitation. is so great that you have lost your power. If you go too high off the wave you can come down in a vertical position and I believe you could be turned over by the next sea. if it is another very large one and too close.

Pitchpoled.

Butler: On training courses we try to teach crew members to go into a sea with caution. I do not think the boat will ever pitchpole. When, on trials, we have headed into the sea on the Shingle Bank and the bows have gone right up, the three crew have gone back through the roll bar and actually fallen out of the boat. The human element comes into it but we have never actually gone over.

The crew just cannot physically stay in the boat.

Brinton: You feel that you are going over backwards but when you see a photograph of the boat afterwards you realise she was nowhere near vertical; at most she had really gone up to about 60 degrees. Dunster: With the old sea anchor arrangement, where the lead weight would come out if the boat went upside down, on several occasions we went up at such an angle that the lead weight fell out. It could have been momentum or the slamming effect of hitting the sea.

But I see your point, Mike, about feeling you are going near vertical but when you see a photograph afterwards you realise that you didn't. Sure, it feels worse than it is.

We have had one other experience in head seas which might be worth mentioning.

On two occasions we have been heading into a very large breaking sea.

We virtually stopped the boat dead in front of the sea and it broke right over the top of us. But, there again, we were still head into sea when the wave had gone past and it was a simple matter of opening the throttles and away.

Trigg: Going back for a minute to our night service to Concord, we had been round to try to take the people off the fishing boat and I had to come up into the seas. Behind me was the beach, on our starboard side was one sandbank, the Hale, and on our port side was another sandbank, the Outer Hale. I had nowhere to run; I couldn't escape from those seas. I had to go through them. During our sweep round, one of my crew, Nick Westwood, had found the towline from the fishing boat floating —I don't know how, but he found it.

So I said, 'Make it fast. We'll trv to get them out of here, the boat and the people' because I did not think we should have enough time to make another sweep round to get the people off. So I was committed to going into those seas. We couldn't see the first sea, but we could hear it coming. I told the boys to hang on. It hit us and. as Frank was saying, we thought we were up there, vertical. Nick Westwood tried to get up to the bow to keep it down. Then we heard the second sea coming, and we could see it, too, about 12 feet behind the first one. We were still up vertical, the Atlantic pointing sky-wards, and the sea was actually breaking higher than that. The crew were all washed down and hanging in the roll bar, even those who had been seated.

Just as they were trying to scramble back the third sea hit us. I shouted, 'We're going over this time!' We were looking up at the sea. It was higher than the Atlantic. It had become unstable and we could hear it coming down.

Then it went silent for something like five to ten seconds. There was water pressure in my ears and I assumed we were upside down. It seemed an eternity, but going through my mind was, how do we get to the beach quick? Then it cleared, so evidently we had actually gone through the base of the sea and it had fallen right over us. The boys were all hanging in the roll bar again and on to the engines. The engines never faltered; never even murmured. The only time they sort of gave a grunt was as she fell back into the sea.

Two more waves came after that, but not quite so big as the one that filled us up, and we must have been vertical, I don't know how long. It seemed for ever. Anyway, we got through the waves into more sea room and sorted ourselves out. The boys sorted out their injuries and we got over the language that had gone on. I shall always remember one of them saying as he got washed by me, 'It's good here, isn't it?' We opened her up to get away from the broken water and into a bit more sea room. And, to our astonishment, we still had the trawler and the blokes and everything on the towline behind us! Which quite surprised us all. We didn't even realise we were still towing them." Once we had sea room there was no problem.

But as Mike and Mick were saying, after that I do not think an Atlantic would ever pitchpole, and you certainly do get washed down into the roll bar and the engines.

Woodroffe: In both your bronze medal services, Frank, you were less lucky with engines. You had engine failure both times, didn't you, although they restarted immediatelv? Dunster: Yes. Difficult to fathom out why. The only thing I can think is that going head into a sea, with your engines either in neutral or just idling in slow ahead, there are not enough revs to sustain the engines at that crucial moment when the boat is lifted and then drops violently down. Or it could be that the device which shuts off the engines, should the boat capsize, is activated by the force of the slamming.

Brinton: I think you are right. We have done our best to improve it and to get it as reliable as possible, but I think there is a real possibility, in certain sea conditions, that the mercury switches will be activated. Dunster: There is one sea which I always fear, Mike. The 12 to 16 foot solid wall of water, which, because of the shallows, is becoming unstable with the top four feet curling nastily and then breaking. There isn't time to move clear of it. You have got to face it head on.

Will the boat go through it? And if the boat does go up it. will that unstable four feet at the top push the bow over? Brinton: Well, I would have thought the boat would have gone over the sea. If you are driving the boat head into, say.

a 20 foot high sea with surf on top, you have got to use your little bit of power to go over it and then just ease her back and punch her going over the next one.

Dunster: So you would like a little bit of power just before the wave hits you? You wouldn't consider going flat out into it? Brinton: Not flat out. No.

Woodroffe: John, what about your experiences on your medal service? Hodder: After taking the women and child off the yacht. White Kitten, we headed back to Lyme, about eight miles distant, with the sea on our quarter. I didn't mind that because at night, with a following sea, you are really driving the boat by the seat of your pants.

Woodroffe: That is true. You have got a greater feel in a following sea than in a head sea, haven't you, particularly at night? Hodder: Yes. After putting the people ashore we had to return to find the yacht. I had put a crew member on White Kitten and he had gone further to seaward than we at first thought. Eventually we saw him about three quarters of a mile away from us. To get to him, I had to go down with the sea on our starboard bow. The seas were so steep it took us about 20 minutes. Like that, you feel insecure. You do not know what is coming to you in the dark. You can have the searchlight on, but because of the movement of the boat you are only picking up part of the sea part of the time. On a bad night like that, with no moon, you are absolutely blind.

As Roger was saying, I think you hear more than you see. You have got to be so sensitive on the throttles. When you feel the bow start to lift, you have got to be ready to drive out through the top of the sea and, vice versa, to pull the throttles back again as you come out.

Those 20 minutes were the worst of the night. Once I had reached the yacht and we were escorting her in, we were in following seas again.

Woodroffe: When you are trying to read the seas ahead at night, do you feel the helmsman's seat needs to be a little higher? This might also put it in a position where you can take a little more of the shock loading through your feet rather than through your back? Hodder: From my point of view, most definitely.

Brinton: The main difficulty is designing consoles and seats to suit all sizes of crew and helmsmen.

Woodroffe: That is the problem. As we have already said, the Atlantic has to be a standard boat that is all things to all people. But I think we all tend to drive sitting up just that little bit higher, not sitting right down on the seat.

Dunster: I do not think it is a question of height. We had one guy six foot four who used to do exactly the same as two of us who are five foot six. five foot seven. I think it is something which comes naturally over a period of years as crew of an Atlantic. It is the way you learn to brace yourself so that you can take rough seas as though the water were flat calm. You are not bouncing all over the place.

Woodroffe: Rather like learning to ride a horse.

Dunster: Yes.

Trigg: The standing up is for comfort, not really for trying to see ahead. I tend to have my feet in the toe straps, the 'stirrups', and hold on to the wheel, the 'reins', and take the shock through my knees. As you say, just ride the boat like a horse.

Brinton: But if you had a higher seat, wouldn't you still do exactly the same? Trigg: Yes. To make it more comfortable for my back.

Hodder: No. Why are we doing it now? To take the weight on our feet and keep it off our spines. If the seat was that much higher, that is just what you would be doing.

Trigg: It would probably be all right for tall people like you and me, John, but it would not help short people.

Woodroffe: We have not yet talked about the difficulties involved in getting people inboard from the water.

Dunster: We find the way we are taught works well: always pull the man out of the water on his back. If he is facing you, spin him round on to his back and you have absolutely no problem. Have two of the crew standing ready, turn the casualty on to his back, dunk him and the spring reaction means you can cup your hands underneath his armpits and pull him straight in, athwartships. on to the back seat. You can then start artificial respiration immediately. Trigg: That is going to do him the world of good if he has got a back injury! Dunster: But the priority is the casualty's breathing.

Hodder: I know we are told to pull people out as Frank has described but at Lyme we will not practise it that way. If you do not get the chap above the sponson first time he can easily be injured. As far as I am concerned, they come out face first. Perhaps I am lucky in that a large proportion of our crew are big men. We get the little ones to practise pulling out the big ones and if they can do it with those, they can do it with most people.

Trigg: I agree with John. Face first. I am fortunate like John. I may not have the prettiest lifeboat crew in the world, but they could well be the largest and the strongest. So there is no problem pulling anyone in. Let's have them in straight away. If they are facing the sponson you can get a grip under their arms and if necessary get hold of the seat of their pants or swimming costume and just haul them in over the sponson.

If they need artificial respiration you can do it on the side deck where they are.

Woodroffe: It is pretty remarkable that we have operated these Atlantic 21s for ten years and more, sometimes in extreme conditions well above the wind and sea limits laid down, and we have had just four capsizes, with no one lost or seriously injured. You have all capsized during the training course at Cowes. but you. John, have done it for real.

Hodder: Well, the simulated situation bears little resemblance to the real thing. When we actually hit the water, with the waves pushing us along, we were doing 35 to 40 knots. The crew made a conscious effort to climb out but was forcibly ejected 30 yards in front of the boat by the roll bar, and I had to swim back to the boat before the handle could be pulled to inflate the bag, which of course we know didn't happen.

Woodroffe: That has caused a lot of heart searching, obviously.

Brinton: We are looking at an alternative system which has still got to be put to the test in evaluation trials.

Woodroffe: One or two other things came out of those two capsizes last year, at Lyme Regis and Berwick-upon- Tweed. Both boats capsized in quite shallow water and bounced along the bottom upside down, but in fact very little damage was done. Brinton: The roll bar on one was a write-off, but really the boats were in remarkably good condition. They came to Cowes for a complete check over, but were only there about a fortnight. It may have been luck, but we like to feel we can take some credit for it; the positioning of the handrail and the roll bar saved the rest of the console. No major components had to be replaced in the engines. In fact, Berwick-upon- Tweed Atlantic relaunched from the beach with another crew and motored back to the boathouse.

Woodroffe: I am sorry your live capsize did not bear a great resemblance to the training. John, but I feel very strongly that the training is something we must do.

Butler: If crew members do our little bit of training, then if a capsize should happen at sea at least they will have some idea of what it is like. And it is also important to us at Cowes that crews come for these courses. We learn as much from them as they learn frorn us. We get a lot of feedback.

Brinton: What Mick says is perfectly true. We gain as much from the crews coming here as, I hope, the crews gain themselves. If you come to Cowes with suggestions, we try to take them all into consideration. Mind you, if you asked ten lifeboatmen, they would all have different ideas and all we can do is to try to sort the wheat from the chaff and incorporate the general opinion.

Hodder: Don't get me wrong. Although I said that a capsize at sea bears no resemblance to a training capsize, I still think there is a definite advantage in coming here for the course. We had not taken the course before a capsize actually happened to us. It would have been better if we had. It gives you an idea what it is like underneath a boat and it also gives you a degree of confidence. Had we done the training here before we had our capsize, we would not actually have been any better off. but we would have known more about it and we could have coped with the situation that much better.

Woodroffe: It is certainly the intention that crew of all new Atlantic 21 stations will come to Cowes for a capsize course during their period of work-up. We are also trying to get through all existing Atlantic stations, but of course crews do change with the years.

Dunster: The discipline you get from practice is well worth while. The capsize drill would help, for instance, with the actual discipline of getting all your crew trailing off the line astern before activating the air bag.

Brinton: Of course, as John said, every capsize is different. He was going very fast when he capsized. Mostly, once the tube goes in the water and the propellers come out, the boat does slowdown quite quickly.

Hodder: Most of the capsizes have been in shallow water in conditions that were not really bad. Obviously, I have had a lot of time to analyse what happened to us. I think it boils down to this. If you are out in very bad winds and seas you really are aware of everything. We were out on exercise when a service call came that someone was trapped at the base of a cliff. The weather was not that bad.

The sea was comparatively flat before we entered the shallow area. You are just a little bit, shall we say. complacent.

You are not really thinking that a rogue sea is going to do that to you.

That is what caught us out. Another time I would not try to outrun it; if it was a very big one I would turn and meet it head on. Had we met the same sea even a mile out to sea, it would have made little difference to us. It was because we were only in about 25 to 30 feet of water that there was so much force behind it.

Trigg: I know what you mean, John.

When you are in bad conditions you are watching all the time for ways out and thinking, 'This one doesn't look so bad.

Which way can I go? What shall I do?' Whereas if the seas are not very bad they can take you completely unawares, because although you are still watching, you do not think it is that bad.

Hodder: And of course we were more concerned with the 76-year-old man, because by this time he was trying to get down from the cliff on to the beach.

Woodroffe: Your boat was damaged on your medal service, wasn't it. Roger? Trigg: Yes. Later in the service, when we were trying to pass the tow from one fishing boat to the other; the tow had broken five or six times on the passage north to Lowestoft. We were coming round Benacre Ness, a notorious place for big seas. We were busy passing the rope over and asking if the towing fishing boat was all right, when an unusually large sea came up on us broadside and picked the Atlantic up and plonked her right across the deck of the trawler. Her bow landed on the trawl winch, ripping the sponson, so that the bow section completely deflated all of a sudden; ours is one of the early Atlantics which does not have the extra bow chamber. The sea passed over us. the fishing boat rolled. I put the Atlantic full astern and dragged her off the deck, opening the tear a bit more.

We backed her off to get some sea room. So, for the next hour and a half or two hours we didn't have any bow at all. It didn't worry the boat at all. It just meant that when we hit a sea it came up the front and ran out the stern and we were all wandering around up to our waists in water most of the time. It did not affect the actual running of the boat or her sea-keeping ability. I just had to be a bit more careful what I headed into. If we had not had waterproofed engines. I am convinced that they would have stopped and we should have been in trouble ourselves. It proved that they do work virtually under water.

Woodroffe: To bring the discussion to an end, what advice would you all give to rigid inflatable lifeboat helmsmen? Hodder: Be absolutely 100 per cent aware of everything, if possible, at all times. And never drive with both hands on the steering wheel.

Dunster: I agree with John. You must use the power wisely, particularly in a head sea: you have got to be very cautious on the throttles in a big, short, sharp head sea.

Trigg: I agree with John, too. My hand never leaves the throttles at all. Always be aware of the sea, always watching because she is after you all the time.

And remember that you have got the best boat money can buy; if you do not let your boat down, I don't think she will let vou down.Brinton: Can I just add, don't ever go to sea with suspect motors? Butler: It has all been said really, except, maybe, you should have a really good back! Woodroffe: It just remains for me to say, thank you all for coming. This is the first time that we have gathered together experienced Atlantic helmsman to exchange views and discuss mutual problems in this way and I am sure the discussion will prove of great value both to us at Cowes and to Atlantic crews round the coast..