THE United World College of the Atlantic is 25 years old this year. What has this to do with the RNLI and what is Atlantic College anyway? Those who are familiar with the history of the college might well consider it the birth place of the Atlantic 21.

The original idea for an international college was that of Kurt Hahn (of Salem, outward bound schools and Gordonstoun) and Air Marshall Sir Lawrence Darvall. In 1962 the College opened with around 54 boys from various corners of the globe who were brought to this imposing Norman castle overlooking the Bristol Channel. The intention was that young people could study, work, live and play together and in so doing develop an understanding of each others' cultures and views.

Sailing dinghies on the Bristol Channel with its large tidal range (second highest in the world) soon showed the need for a fast beach launched safety craft and so it was that the college's first headmaster Rear Admiral Desmond Hoare, a member of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects, began the story of the Atlantic 21 with the inflatables of the time, craft such as Gemini and Zodiacs.

Because of the bouldered, rocky foreshore the boats were constantly in need of maintenance and in the surf conditions caused by the prevailing southwesterly winds the boats had a nasty tendency to fold on a wave. It was at this point that the idea of a rigid boat developed in Admiral Hoare's mind. To reduce the effects of abrasion on the floor of the craft, strips of marine ply were bonded to the underside and deck boards were placed inside the craft to stiffen them. Much of this early work was done by students under Admiral Hoare's guidance and in subsequent years a great deal of financial and material help was given by the RNLI.

The precise order in which things developed from this stage is a little difficult to gauge since all the accounts to hand vary slightly in detail. It is sure that development took place very quickly, with a lot of time and effort by all concerned. The amount of wood attached to the boats gradually grew until the stage was reached where the tube was attached to the wood rather than the wood to the boat. The early boats also carried fins on the underside to aid stability but these were no match for the rocky conditions. The hulls themselves became buoyant and hollow. Admiral Hoare set the X programme into action with the ambitious aim of producing a developing series of boats. Around 1964 with X-5 the RNLI showed great interest and trials were conducted with the Institution.

In the boat X-8 was manifested the idea of a v-eed hull for stability with a flatter, after planing, surface for speed and fuel efficiency. In 1969 Psychedelic Surfer was produced in a matter of weeks and entered for the Round Britain Powerboat Race. It was the only RIB to compete, certainly the smallest boat in the fleet, and so did very well to finish in the first 20 boats after the gruelling 1700 miles.

Around the same time as the college's work Stuart Gait was developing v-eed rigid hulls from within his plastics company.

X-10 was Atlantic College's only attempt at plastics with a foam-sandwich construction. X-13 had twin tubes, one stacked on the other, giving rise to the term double-bubble.

By the time X-17 was constructed the path was clear to the B-boat line and X-17 was later renamed B-3. Much of the development work now passed to the RNLI though boat construction and operation were still important features of the student life at Atlantic College.

The early B-boats were wooden hulled, B508 being the last of such hulls. Lt David Stogdon continued to introduce many of the features seen on today's B-boat, delta seating for better crew visibility (the college boats had been in line seating), self-righting capability and with a good deal of help from the British Hovercraft Corporation. The bow section was further v-eed to prevent "suck down" of the bows in following seas. In 1972 the first Atlantic 21 went on station at Hartlepool and since this time Cowes base has continued tomake many welcome minor modifications to this very seaworthy boat. So it is that in the 25 years of Atlantic College the Atlantic 21 could be regarded as 15 years old.

Atlantic College now has around 350 students from as many as 60 countries.

All the students are selected without regard to their ability to pay and the college is working hard towards a situation where the intake is 100 per cent funded by scholarships. Unlike the early days of boys only, the college is now mixed and all students follow an intensive academic study programme of six subjects for the International Baccalaureate (another venture in which the college played a major role).

It is a fundamental of the IB and of Kurt Hahn's philosophy that students should contribute a service to their community.

Such service consists of inshore lifeboats, cliff rescue—a coastguard station is based in the college—beach rescue, environmental monitoring, social service, estate service, etc.

While all these areas are very worthwhile and demanding, I shall deal mainly with the ILBS. Students join the college in September, some being unable to swim and many perhaps never having seen the sea before. Despite all this they may well choose ILBS as their service. In their first year they spend two hours per week at sea in the college boats (the S boat series) learning basic seamanship from their second year and, in another two hour session each week, they all train for the Royal Life Saving Society Bronze Medallion, maintain their boats and learn theory such as radio, ropework, etc. All first year II.B students take the St John's first aid certificate.

When the students return to college in August as second years they undergo a rigorous and demanding training programme, where their knowledge is extended and applied to the RNLI B-boat. At the end of this training the staff, the Station Honorary Secretary and Deputy Launching Authority assess those who are to become the crew for the coming year and also those who are to become college coxswains and may thus take charge of the boats in the college fleet. It is remarkable to see the standard which is achieved in such a short time and surprise has often been expressed by casualties who find they have been rescued by "a bunch of kids".

The crew regularly exercise with our adjacent stations, Porthcawl (D boat) and Barry (Arun). The crews have also often worked with RAF Chivenor (Wessex) and RAF Brawdy (Sea King).

Atlantic College produced the RNLI's first female crew member, Elizabeth Hostredt from Norway, and this year have the first female coxswain, Therese Lundqvist, aged 19, from Sweden.

As we approach the 25th anniversary of the college, we look forward to another 25 years of our very close liaison with the RNLI, which is a link we cherish very closely..