Half the power- but thiejob's still donenile some RNLI's services are carried out in extreme weather conditions the majority ' are more 'rotifine' but still require proven and reliable equipment in addition to a high level of seamanship and dedication from the lifeboat crews.

One such service^ was undertaken by Helen Turnbuil, the relief Waveney on temporary station duty at FleetwocJcTirfTebruary 1998.

Before 1989 Fleetwood had a permanent Waveney, Lady of Lancashire, so there was a degree of nostalgia when Helen Turnbuil replaced our Tyne which was one of those withdrawn for engine modifications. The Tyne is a far more comfortable boat for the crew, but the Waveney is superbly responsive and is known as a 'real coxswain's boat'At 0850 on Tuesday 3 February Helen Turnbuil slipped her moorings under the command of Coxswain Chris Hurst to go to the assistance of the Irish trawler Bridget Carmelwhich had fouled her propeller some 16 miles south-west of Fleetwood.

With light westerly winds and a calm sea Helen Turnbullcleared the Fleetwood channel at full speed and set a course for the reported position of the casualty.

As she passed the Lune Deep radio contact was made with the trawler and a bearing obtained with the VHP radio direction finder. At 0930 the casualty's position was confirmed by radar and the coxswain asked Bridget Carmel to prepare her own lines in readiness for the tow to Fleetwood.

Arriving at the scene at 1005 the calm conditions allowed Coxswain Hurst to position the lifeboat under the bows of the 125ft trawler to take the tow line.

Helping relatively large trawlers is a quite common occurrence at Fleetwood, although normally with the larger Tyne class lifeboat.

In this case the relief Waveney had only half the Tyne's power, but the task was nevertheless carried out very effectively and by 1335 the lifeboat and casualty were at the Fairway Buoy at the seaward end of the Fleetwood channel.

The tide was now running at some 5 knots, so Coxswain Hurst shortened the tow and stemmed the stream to wait for high water before entering the two-and-a-half-mile channel to the docks.

Bridget Carmel was berthed in the fish dock at 1530 where divers spent six hours clearing her fouled propeller.

The service completed Helen Tumbult returned to station where she was refuelled and ready for service again at 1645 - some eight hours after the initial call..