Abigail revisited Readers of the Winter 2003/04 edition of the Lifeboat may remember a letter from Alan Jones recounting his airlift from the yacht Abigail with a suspected heart attack. He wrote with some embarrassment at eventually being diagnosed 'merely' with atrial fibrillation and was thankful to his many rescuers. He received the following reply, which we reproduce with permission.

Your letter regarding your mishap off here certainly made interesting reading. Such feedback is always welcome, to hopefully learn points for next time. Your incident was an interesting and rewarding one for us (if not so for you!) as quite a number of individual drills that we practise were put to the test that night. (By the way, you mention the Coastguard helicopter - it was in fact an RAF Sea King from Wattisham.

The Coastguard do have helicopters but we have the RAF in our patch.) You were certainly not a fraud - far from it, your situation was very much an emergency. Even after you had been lifted off, the escort to Margate was a normal precaution given that your colleague was now single-handed. Leaving him to sail on to Ramsgate, given the conditions, was not a good idea. The welt-executed procedure that you followed was the correct one. It is for such incidents that we are here.

Peter Barker Coxswain/Mechanic Margate lifeboatRacing squallReading through the Listings of launches in the Winter 2003/04 issue, I spotted the entry for the Southend-on-Sea station. I was surprised that no comment appeared in the magazine. In one day on 22 June the three boats achieved seventeen launches between them. Surely there has to be a worthwhile story behind the listing of such a busy day! The crews must have been exhausted, if nothing else, and what a testament to their dedication.

One wonders if this is some kind of record for the lifeboat service by a coastal station. (In offering this comment I am excluding Thames stations serving London as they operate to a different demand and climate pattern on an inland waterway, so are not strictly comparable in this context.) I am sure other readers would also be very interested to hear of more details.

David Butcher Taunton, SomersetJon Jones, Assistant Editor, replies The launches were the result of the local More Race that involved several classes of sail craft using a long course down the Thames Estuary. Shortly after the race began, a sudden squall hit the area seeing winds of up to force 8 and heavy rain. As a result many of the craft got into trouble and needed the assistance of the lifeboats. If you have access to the internet and would like to find out more about the day, log on to the station's website at: www.southendlifeboat.org.

Although this is not an everyday occurrence, I understand from our operations department that these situations do happen from time to time at various lifeboat stations. We were unable to report on it in the Winter 2003/04 issue of the Lifeboat as no further details were available at the time of going to press.News from the Netherlands British members Anne and Roy McClenan encouraged their friends from Lelystad to share their experiences of last summer as mentioned in their Christmas card to the McClenans, Here's what they told us.

We had a marvellous sailing season with all that beautiful weather and so much sun! We sailed in July and August along the Belgian and French coast to Deauville. At that point our eldest son arrived with his partner. They had cycled on a tandem from Utrecht to Rome and were on their way back. They were tired after 3,500km cycling and because of the heat they decided to continue their journey on board.

We sailed to Newhaven and had a nice trip with calm weather. The next stop was Dover and that day the sea became rough and the wind stronger. We did not mind but Helma, my son's partner, became very, very seasick. She started to hyperventilate and almost lost consciousness. We contacted Dover Coastguard and they decided to launch the lifeboat. Helma was taken on board and then to an ambulance ashore in Folkestone. She got a complete medical check up and we were very happy when we were informed that all was well with her.

When we arrived in Dover she was waiting for us on the quay.

What very skilled men and women you have on your lifeboats! And so friendly and considerate. We decided to become a member of your RNLI and I have a nice Offshore sticker on my car now. It was quite an adventure, though we were a little embarrassed that after more than 40 years of sailing we now needed the help of a lifeboat. Again, we want to thank your organisation and the Dover lifeboat crew for taking care of our daughter-in-law.

Sjouke Altena and Wil Hansen Lelystad, The NetherlandsLChloe in calmer waters Red Bay in Northern Island was featured in last edition's Lifeboats in action. Another member writes: You can imagine my surprise when, on reading my Lifeboat, came across an article about Chloe, when at the moment I have a photograph of the boat as the Screensaver on my computer.

I enclose the photo, which I think was taken in Canna or perhaps in Gometra Bay, on Diva. What attracted me was the still water, how tidy she was and, having seen her about in the Hebrides, what a dedicated couple the owners were to the seafaring life.

Their experience brought to mind a time when I was bringing a Sadler 34 back from Oban after the Three Peaks Race with a crew that was new to me. I knew there was a heavy wind forecast but the crew came on board saying they hadn't got as much time as they thought and could I get the boat and them back to Abersoch asap.

Foolishly, instead of hiding in Port Ellen on Islay or going into Ardfern in Loch Craignish, I decided to press on, only to find us in the North Channel with 40 knot winds gusting 45 (or so our hand-held anemometer said).

Things went well until one of the crew, an old man who must have had the constitution of an ox, went below saying he'd 'just get himself something to eat before the wind came'. Well... he fried some bacon for a sandwich and then came on deck, lit a fag and sat next to me blowing the smoke in my face. I have to admit I just died. I had to hand the boat over to one of the crew so I could go below to do so. The wind was from the west so he did the sensible thing and headed for Red Bay where we dropped anchor and waited until the gale abated, then upped anchor for a night in Bangor, in Belfast Lough.

Christopher Dale KidderminsterWhy do I support the RNLI?What would you answer to this question? Here are a couple of members' thoughts to start the ball rolling.

I very much enjoy reading the Lifeboat, especially the articles on particular rescues, and it reminded me of an episode in my childhood that has influenced me ever since and I have been an RNLI supporter now for many years.

At the end of the 1920s, when I was seven, I travelled back to England with my mother and babysitter on a troopship with the families of an infantry battalion whose men had disembarked at Port Sudan.

As we entered the Bay of Biscay a great storm blew up - not unusual in those parts - and immediately almost all grown-ups disappeared below, including mine.This did not seem to bother the children, who reported for meats as usual, eating everything.

The armchairs in the saloon were all tied up and we soon devised a grand game with them. As many children as possible climbed into the chair then the tie was loosed and at the next lurch of the ship we slid across the saloon, to land with a crash on the other side.

Needless to say, the crew soon stopped that activity and various members were set to keep their eye on us. We got to know them well and, when we noticed there was much activity out on deck, we demanded to know what was up.

They explained that a ship was in trouble in the storm and we had been told to turn aside and go to its rescue. Already sailors were coming up on deck in lifejackets and we all became very excited. We were going to see a shipwreck! Alas in another few minutes it was all over. Apparently no troopship was ever called on to go to a rescue unless no other craft was anywhere near and there was one that could do this duty. We resumed our course and the men took off their impressive gear. We were desolate. No fun.

But one of our sailors took the trouble to explain to us just what a shipwreck would mean to those on board and to those who must risk their lives to save them and I never forgot it.

That is why I support the RNLI.

Mrs DM Burrell Cheltenham I'm now 44 and have been a Shoreline member for many years. Now, I'm not a huge fundraiser, but always buy all the raffle tickets and put a few quid into collection boxes when I see them {as well as my membership).

Probably profiled as TW on the computer (that's right, tight wad)...

My defining moment was when as a teenager {I know what you're thinking... an odd teenager - should have been lying listlessly on the sofa) I was moved by a documentary about a crew in the north of Scotland. I seem to recall it was a tiny village on the north east coast and half the men of that village crewed the lifeboat. There was a horrendous disaster and most of the crew were lost at sea. The effect on the local community was enormous: in a few hours many children became fatherless and many wives became widows.

They had to replace the crew (it was a treacherous sea and coastline) and within a very short time the remaining men from the village had stepped forward to take the places of their drowned comrades.

It was 25 years ago and I suspect that some details are confused, but I recall being very moved by this and I have been a member ever since. Keep up the good work. Very best wishes, Mark Manson by email The disaster Mr Manson refers to could be either Longhope in 1969 or Fraserburgh in 1970, incidents that both involved the loss of entire lifeboat crews in the north east of Scotland in quick succession.And finally Thank you on behalf of last issue's correspondent, Mr Corps, who has kindly been sent many a spare RNLI matchbox and/or details of where to find them by readers of the Lifeboat1.

Liz Cook, Editor.