TWIN ENGINED inflatable lifeboats have been designated the C class. This is to distinguished them from the single engined 15ft 6in D class inflatables, well known all round the coast. All C class boats at the moment are 17ft 6in Zodiac Mk IV hulls with twin 40hp outboard engines and most of the class have a limited night capability. At present there are C class lifeboats at St Abbs, Portaferry, Mudeford, Aberystwyth, Criccieth (see photograph on opposite page), Newquay (Cornwall), Cullercoats and St Catherine, with one boat in the relief fleet. Six more C class boats are building; four will go on station, at Kinghorn, St Ives, St Bees and Rye Harbour while two are for the relief fleet.

Letter designations are used for lifeboats under 10 metres in length. A class lifeboats are rigid hulled boats, such as the 18ft 6in McLachlan and the 17ft 6in Dell Quay Dory; B class lifeboats are the Atlantic 21 rigid inflatables.

Since the introduction of the first inflatable boats into the RNLI's fleet in 1963, lifeboats under 10 metres have, between them, rescued more than 12,000 people.

Solomon Browne flagstaff Carpenters in the RNLI depot at Poole have made a flagstaff from the remains of the former Penlee lifeboat Solomon Browne. It is made of pieces of every type of wood used in the lifeboat to perpetuate the memory of the lifeboatmen who were lost in the Penlee disaster in December 1981. The flagstaff is to be placed in Truro Cathedral, where the RNLI memorial service to the memory of the Penlee lifeboatmen and those lost in MV Union Star was held in February, 1982.

Walton and Frinton centenary Walton and Frinton lifeboat station celebrated its centenary at a rededication service on June 13. The Lord Lieutenant of Essex, Admiral Lewis, was joined at the ceremony by the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Birmingham, Councillor and Mrs Hales, representing the people of the city who raised the money for the station's present 48ft 6in Solent lifeboat, City of Birmingham.

Rear Admiral W. J. Graham, director of the RNLI, presented a centenary vellum to Mr R. Oxley, chairman of the branch. Since the station was founded in 1884, Walton and Frinton lifeboats have launched on service 806 times saving 796 people.

New C of M members Three new members have recently been elected to the Committee of Management: Mr Richard Douglas, MP; Admiral Sir Rae McKaig, KCB CBE, and Mr J. A. H. Paffett, RCNC cnng FRINA HOnFNI FRSA.

Mr Richard Douglas is the Labour and Co-operative member of Parliament for Dunfermline West. He is a qualified marine engineer and has been a director of Ferguson Brothers (Port Glasgow) since 1975. Mr Douglas has been much concerned in education and has been an honorary lecturer at the University of Strathclyde since 1980.

Admiral Sir Rae McKaig is chairman and chief executive of Gray Mackenzie and Co and a director of Inchcape pic.

He had a distinguished naval career, serving as Flag Officer, Plymouth, and Port Admiral, Devonport, from 1970 to 1973 and UK military representative to NATO from 1973 to 1975. Admiral McKaig is a member of the Royal Ocean Racing Club.

Mr James Paffett, a consultant in naval architecture, is chairman of the RNLFs Technical Consultative Committee and a member of the Boat Committee. He was a professor of naval architecture at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, from 1962 to 1967, superintendent of the ship division of the National Physical Laboratory from 1967 to 1976 and general manager of the National Maritime Institute from 1976 to 1981.

Award for Guernsey lifeboatmen Guernsey lifeboatmen gained a standing ovation from delegates at the National Union of Seamen's biennial general meeting, held in Guernsey last May, when the NUS general secretary, Jim Slater, presented RNLI Guernsey branch chairman, Jurat Guy Blampied, with an inscribed figurine to thank them 'for their work and sacrifices on behalf of seamen'. Particular mention was made of the rescue from the freighter Radiant Med last January, for which Coxswain Michael Scales was awarded a bronze medal. Motor Mechanic Robert Vowles was loudly applauded when he said, 'We hope you will never need us.

But if you do, we'll be there'.

VAT concessions Following approaches to members of Parliament from constituencies with lifeboat stations and approaches to central government, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in his 1984 budget that the zero rating of lifeboats would be extended to lifeboat carriages and launching equipment, including tractors. This is an important concession, which the Institution has welcomed, particularly as the new RNLI launching tractor costs around £100,000.

However, the RNLI's VAT bill is still around £300,000 and is payable on such items as lifeboathouses, buildings, slipways capable of being used by the public, Land Rovers used to launch inflatables, radios and bleeper sets on land, pontoons and many other items.

The RNLI is continuing, with other organisations, to press for complete VAT relief for all charities.

Board sailing circumnavigation Twenty-five-year-old Oxford graduate Tim Batstone completed his circumnavigation of Britain on a sailboard when he arrived off Southend on Tuesday July 10. He completed the 1,777 mile trip in 54 days of sailing, taking rest days and pausing for bad weather where necessary; he was accompanied by a safety boat throughout. The longest distance he covered in a 24-hour leg was 107 miles between Spurn Point and Lowestoft but his average distance was 32 miles a day. He spent a total of 340 hours on the sailboard.

Tim Batstone hopes to have raised £30,000 for the RNLI in sponsorship from the public and from Charles Heidseick Champagne, who donated lOp to the Institution for every bottle of their champagne sold during May, June and July. So far more than £25,000 has been received.

Training for the circumnavigation, which will be entered in the Guinness Book of Records, took over a year.

RNLI film gains certificate The new RNLI film 'How Do You Say Thank You?', made by Discus Documentaries of Lymington, has been awarded 'best entry' certificate in the western regional final of the 1984 Kodak Commissioned Film Awards.

The film went forward to the national final but did not win.

'How Do You Say Thank You?' features Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, lifeboat in a number of dramatic rescue sequences, including the rescue of a young family from their yacht.

Videotapes for sale Three RNLI films, 'Storm Force Ten', 'Let Not the Deep' and 'How Do You Say Thank You?' are now available for sale as videotapes. They can be obtained in the VHS format, price £17.25 (including postage) per title, from Viscom, Park Hall Road Trading Estate, London SE21 8EL. These three titles are, of course, also among the RNLI 16mm films available for hire for group showing from Viscom.

Fancy that . . .

The ladies of Whitby guild got more than they bargained for on their strawberry and cream afternoon last July.

One of the attractions was a comic cricket match between the lifeboat crew and the local Round Table. The match was interrupted by a call from the Coastguard and, minutes later, astonished holidaymakers saw Andy Pandy, Biggies and a nurse making for the D class inflatable lifeboat's boathouse.

Two youngsters, who were cut off by the tide, were picked up and landed safely.

. . . a pheasant surprise The finest traditions of the RNLI were shown by Courtmacsherry Harbour lifeboat crew in the rescue and subsequent care of a casualty they spotted in the water when they were out on exercise.

The bedraggled survivor was sighted in the last stages of exhaustion a couple of hundred yards from the shore, being tossed about by the strong wind and gradually blown out to sea. Second Coxswain Dan O'Dwyer and Crew Member Colin Bateman launched the inflatable dinghy carried on board the station's 47ft Watson lifeboat, recovered the casualty and landed her into the care of the honorary secretary's wife, who helped her dry out in the kitchen and then let her rest. . . outside in the bird run. The casualty was a hen pheasant..