Lack of knowledge is thought to be the root cause of most deaths in UK and Irish waters, and the RNLI'sSea Safety mission is to counter this. GarethWeekes reportsA relatively new strand of the RNLI's work, Sea Safety was a response to a huge rise in the number of calls on lifeboat crews.

Rescue records make it clear that many of these incidents would never have happened if callers had been better prepared. 'Fifty years ago people who wanted to go sailing went to night school and learned navigation or at least got someone to show them the ropes,' says Sea Safety Manager Peter Chennell. 'But now you can buy a boat on a Friday, put it in the water on Saturday morning and kill someone by the afternoon. There is nothing to stop you taking a powerful boat out on the water without any knowledge.' This danger is perfectly illustrated by the young man who ripped the bottom off his speed boat, driving it over a line of wellmarked underwater boulders. When the lifeboat coxswain asked him why he had behaved in this way he replied that he had driven in the same place the day before without a problem. 'He didn't even have the knowledge that sometimes the tide is up and sometimes it is down,' says Peter.

To save lives - and to take pressure off the lifeboat service - something clearly had to be done about this massive level of ignorance. A range of resources is now put to use, from printed publications, websites and CD-ROMs (some produced in cooperation with other organisations such as the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Royal Yachting Association) to face-toface advice and education work.Working one to one The RNLI's team of 10 Sea Safety coordinators based around the UK and Rol has recruited more than 600 volunteers whose job is to save lives, not by clearing up after an incident, but by changing attitudes and behaviours in the first place.

You will find them beside slipways, quaysides and beaches, engaging skippers and surfers in conversations about safety.

They find a receptive audience in places like yacht clubs, boat jumbles and boat shows. Here they provide free detailed safety checks, hand out leaflets and talk in detail about how people can prepare for the sea. (Fifty-three per cent of RNLI rescues were to pleasure boats in 2003.) The people who have never joined a club and are keen to get into the water as quickly as possible are less receptive. 'It is tough for our volunteers to engage their attention, so we are developing ways of getting the message over,' comments Peter. 'For instance, when a family is about to launch and the father is working the trailer winch and getting flustered, we chat to the mother and ask if the children have lifejackets.

'We try to get over five basic tips and ask them to pay attention to these whatever else they do.' Tailoring the service Part of the problem is that there are now so many different ways of using the sea.

Fishermen are the traditional 'customers' of the RNLI but sea use now also includes water skiing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, jet skiing, surf kayaking, wake boarding, leisure angling and diving. The most successful Sea Safety advisers are those who share the same interests as the people they are talking to. So yachtsmen chat to yachtsmen, fishermen to fishermen, and so on.Volunteers like BillTempleton in Ayrshire (see page 25} have a wealth of experience to pass on to sea users. Bill has been involved in boating since childhood and is respected for his vast knowledge: 'Boating is a thing I know about. Not everything, but a lot.' The old...

The commercial fishing industry has a lamentable safety record - it remains the most dangerous industry in the UK, so the RNLI is piloting a fishing safety programme in the two fishing heartlands of south Devon and north east Scotland.David Smith, Fishing Safety Coordinator in Peterhead, works to persuade fishing skippers to think more about safety in an industry where 20 people died last year. David knows the business: he has been a fisherman all his adult life, working his way up from deckhand to skipper and share owner of a range of vessels. 'My fishing career came an end after an accident with a high pressure hydraulic pipe system,' he says.

Since then he has trained with the RNLI and completed the NEBOSH certificate occupational health and safety. He is confident this experience 'will help me help fishermen to look at safety as priority'.

Lifejackets have always been a tricky issue. Many fishermen do not wear them because they fear they will catch in their gear and drag them overboard. The RNLI is asking fishermen to test 50 different lifejackets to identify the best and the worst and to help develop a new design that they would be happy to wear. The RNLI is also testing and developing a confidential position reporting system to help lifeboat crews find casualties.... And the new Kitesurfing is the UK's fastest growing water sport and saw a 1,400 per cent increase in lifeboat callouts to kitesurfers last year. Some of the nastiest accidents - including fatalities - happen when surfers lose control and are slammed into harbour walls or groynes by sudden gusts. Others are stranded at sea by a drop in wind strength. Tony Wafer, Sea Safety Coordinator in Poole, says the RNLI has recruited some of the best extreme water sportspeople as volunteers. 'We are using them to appeal to fellow kitesurfers in their own way - a bit more laid back.1 As reported in the summer 2004 issue of theLifeboat, the RNLI is also tackling dangers on the beach. See pages 38—40 of this winter issue for some correspondence about this and read about the RNLI's work in schools on page 44.

The long road The RNLI's plan to change attitudes and behaviours is a long-term challenge. It is early days yet for statistical proof but there is already plenty of anecdotal evidence. 'We are unlikely to hear about most of our successes,' Peter explains. 'If as a result of one of our volunteers talking to someone at a boat jumble, a power boater goes out and buys a VHF radio and then uses it when he breaks down in rough weather and is towed to safety, that will not be entered anywhere as a statistic but it will still be a success for the RNLI.' Your chance to train In a new venture, the RNLI has teamed up with Practical Boat Owner magazine to provide a sea safety weekend at The Lifeboat College in Poole.

Up to 90 participants will learn from lifeboat coxswains, crew and sea safety specialists, both preventative safety techniques and the best procedures to follow in an emergency. It's very much a 'hands-on'weekend: activities include firing flares, rigging a boat for towing and trying life rafts in the Survival Centre wave tank.

Accommodation and all meals are provided as part of the package from 12-13 March 2005, including a three-course dinner with a guest speaker on the Saturday evening.

Sea Safety Manager Peter Chennell said: 'We hope this will be the first of many such weekends at the College. Not only does it allow us to deliver in-depth safety messages, it also promotes the RNLI and raises money for saving lives at sea.' Prices are £190 per person or £350 per couple sharing a room. Bookings can be made by telephoning 0870 833 2000.

Practical Boat Owner is Britain's biggest selling yachting magazine. It's available in most newsagents or by subscription, at a special discounted price for readers of the Lifeboat of £33 for one year - a 25% discount. Telephone 0845 676 7778 and quote reference 47U, or simply log on at www.pbo.co.uk/ipbb.

The RNU's Offshore membership is designed for those most tikely to need the services of the RNLI: the sea-going community. Offshore members are kept up to date on essential sea safety advice and receive special offers and discounts from various marine suppliers. In addition to the Lifeboat, they receive their own publication, Offshore News, three times a year.