Howard Richings continues his tour of the RNLI's lifeboat stations It's an ill wind that blows no good. 1998 certainly began in fine style if one was into windsurfing, whereas in January 1997 it would have required an icebreaker to have made an early start from Burnham or many other Southeast coast marinas.

The stream of Atlantic depressions from late 1997 into the New Year brought severe gales, unusually high temperatures and unseasonal thunderstorms.

Whether or not global warming is really happening our climate's variability will keep us guessing until any effects are well established.

While waiting for the gales to abate it is worth casting an eye back up the East Anglian coast, for while sensible folk were tucked up with mulled wine and seasonal fayre the mild winter weather and a lack of easterly winds allowed excellent progress to be made on the rebuilding of the Cromer slipway station. Major concrete pours were completed before Christmas - 350 cubic metres (840 tonnes) being pumped on one day along the pier to form the main boathouse floor slab and set up a good working platform out of reach of all but the worst of the weather.

Observant readers may have noted that while dashing for cover in Burnham last year we failed to put into Walton and Frinton. Here conditions can, at times, make life a little lively for small vessels as the crew, who board the station's afloat Tyne from a boarding boat can vouch. During the last few years a shelter for helpers on the pier and new refuelling facilities have been provided, together with improvements to the souvenir sales outlet and changing facilities, but so far no practical and economic solution to improving the boarding system can be found.

Leaving Burnham on the last leg of this southward section of the journey a short voyage takes us to one of the country's most famous seaside entertainment centres. If length is important then Southend must be a winner! The crew have a choice of boathouses, with a D class inshore lifeboat based at the landward end of the world famous pier and a second D class and an Atlantic 21 a mile-and-a-half away at the outer. Fire and wayward vessels have severed the pier but failed to curtail the activities of this unique station, which shares with Blackpool the distinction of having three operational lifeboats. In the near future it will also share with that town the advantage of a new boathouse as an application for planning consent is about to be submitted for a new boathouse at the outer end of the pier.

The pier is a listed structure and any development will require the consent of English Heritage.

The existing pier end boathouse uses the existing raised public sun deck as a roof, the RNLI merely providing the four walls and the davit which launches both lifeboats. Unfortunately the upper deck has been unsafe for public access for several years due to corrosion and demolition is planned as part of the local council's plans for redevelopment. The project has gone through several incarnations, including being part of an unsuccessful Millennium bid, and the RNLI has finally decided to go it alone and provide a new independent building - this time with its own roof! The project will be yet another challenge in building in an 'interesting' location, as all materials with have to come along the pier or arrive by sea.

A short passage across the Thames estuary brings us to the north coast of Kent and to Sheerness where an Arun lies afloat at a berth in the harbour.

Improvements to the shore facilities are planned once a suitable site can be obtained.

This not a problem at Whitstable where in anticipation of the arrival of an Atlantic 75 in the year 2000 plans have already been produced for a completely new boathouse on the same site as the existing building. This should be completed in 1999 in time for the new arrival.

Margate's boathouse was able to accept the station's new Mersey in 1991 without major works.

Improved facilities forthe crew have, however, been planned for some time and work should be completed during 1998 on improvements to changing facilities, training room and souvenir shop.

Rounding the NE corner of Kent we arrive at Ramsgate where one of the RNLI's major projects is just being completed. Entering into the harbour, carefully dodging the ferries, the new boathouse can be seen at the outer end of the Commercial Pier.

Work on this £650,000 project started in the summer of 1997 with a civil engineering contract to pile through the pier's revetment and to build a suspended reinforced concrete deck as a base for the boathouse and the davit which launches the inshore lifeboat.

This first phase of the project was competed on time in 1997 and the building contractors started work in early November - with completion due in 1998. The project also includes a berthing pontoon forthe Trent and dredging to ensure adequate water depths for both lifeboats Moving on to the south we next spot the distinctive Walmer boathouse, with its flying buttresses, set on the town's broad beach.

The boathouse was carefully modified in 1991/ 92 to take an Atlantic 21. Its flying buttresses make it one of the Institution's most interesting boathouses and also posed a challenge for our designers and contractor. The boathouse had to be lengthened and so the front was dismantled and reconstructed some 6m seaward! The bustling port of Dover literally marks a turning point in our journey as our course begins to swing to the west, passing through not only one of the busiest sea lanes in the world but also an area which has seen some of the most extensive improvements to RNLI facilities.

At Littlestone-on-Sea major improvements were completed in 1993 to house an Atlantic 21 and provide the crew with modern facilities.

To appreciate fully the location of Dungeness, the next station along the coast, one really needs to swap the small boat for a plane. From the air the vast sweep of the shingle beach is impressive. The boathouse - venue of many a local dance - appears almost stranded by the broad expanse of beach which has to be traversed by the Mersey on her tractor-hauled carriage. Despite the rising trend of sea levels this station has had to be relocated several times to keep within range of the retreating sea as the beach built up over the years. Recent additions to the existing boathouse following its adaptation for the Mersey have included a new crew room in 1994.

Moving further west and entering the estuary of the river Rother requires fine judgement but it is comforting to know that help ts not far from hand. The boathouse at Rye Harbour sits prominently on the west bank of the river, sharing with it's larger sister station at Hastings a distinctive colour scheme of blue walls with white window surrounds.

The salt marshes and flats which have so reduced Rye's accessibility as a commercial port since the middle ages also produced foundation conditions which greatly added to the 'hidden' costs of the new boathouse, which has an under croft and rests on piles sunk deep into the estuarial muds.

Approaching Hastings the town's fishing fleet can be seen drawn up on the shingle beach in front of the historic Old Town, with distinctive black ship-lap net lofts set against the cliffs of the East Hill. It is within this sensitive setting that the RNLI 's new boathouse sits.

Hastings received the first operational Mersey class lifeboat in 1989, when the boat was squeezed into the existing boathouse by lowering the floor. Once essential work to house the other 30 Merseys had been completed attention turned back to Hastings where, in addition to the normal requirements for modern crew facilities and better housing for all-weather and inshore lifeboats, launching and beach grading equipment it was recognised that there was special case for providing better facilities for visitors. The station had long been a recognised destination for school parties from the London area and was also popular with holidaymakers.

Planning started in 1994 and a scheme acceptable to the planning authorities was designed by a local architect, working with the RNLI's consulting engineers. Work started in January 1995 and was completed within the year at a cost of just over half-amillion pounds.

Visitors to the station can now view the lifeboat from a glass-fronted room which can accommodate large parties and is fully accessible to the disabled. The decision to provide facilities which went beyond pure operational needs was justified by the educational value and the long-term need of the Institution to ensure that the public was aware of the work of the RNLI.

In common with Hastings our next port of call, Eastbourne, has both an all-weather and inshore lifeboat and has also seen a major change in the facilities provided for both lifeboats and crews. We mentioned the recycling of the timbers from the old slipway at Eastbourne in a previous issue, where they were used in protective works at Wells-Next-the-Sea.

This was all part of a major change to lifeboat operations in the town. An afloat Mersey in the outer, tidal basin of the new Sovereign marina replaced the slipway launched Bother, and the old boathouse was renovated and converted in 1995 to take the station's inshore lifeboat, while a new shore facility building of the all-weather boat was built in the marina. Eastbourne is one of the few stations where the two lifeboats are too far apart to share facilities.

Time and tide dictate that we must pass by Newhaven, noting that there is more to be done here to provide the facilities that the crew deserve.

The old slipway boathouse is still maintained to house a relief Tyne but the station now operates an afloat Arun.

Westwards from Newhaven mother nature has not been kind to the sailor of small boats and it was for that reason that in the early 1970s the Brighton Marina sprung out from the chalk cliffs and, as described in the Winter issue of The Lifeboat provided the home for the RNLI's first floating boathouse.

The station has long awaited modern crew facilities and planning consent was granted early this year for a new building which should, subject to agreements, be built before the end of the year.

Although not as large as the Brighton Marina breakwater the several arms of the protective breakwaters to Shoreham Harbour are interesting, and when viewed from the air indicate how the port has evolved. The station's Tyne launches from a slipway boathouse within the protection ofthe port. In 1991/ 92 extensive repair work was carried out on the reinforced concrete substructure of the station to give the building a new lease of life. Working in confined conditions under the building the 'spalled' concrete was cut back, the corroded reinforcing steel replaced and then rebuilt using spray concrete techniques.

A little time ashore would now seem to be the order of the day as the summer weather inevitably makes the coastal waters rather crowded. A short lay up in Littlehampton will allow time to chase up progress on the proposals for the new facilities which are in the preliminary design stage.

Subject to various negotiations with the local authority and other interested parties firm plans should be in place for the construction of a new boathouse which may well form part of a larger redevelopment of the east bank area of the Arun estuary.

Before setting sail again, to look further westward in forthcoming issues, it may also be prudent to check with the Tornado Warning Centre - as the next station down the line is Selsey, where the effect of Global Warming may have manifested itself earlier this year!.