Man overboard The dangers of the sea were tragically demonstrated on 18 March 2006 when David Clear was washed off his yacht, Past Times, off St Aldhelm's Head near Swanage, Dorset. His inexperienced crew member made a Mayday call but was unable to confirm their position. The resulting search involved three all weather lifeboats (Swanage's Robert Charles Brown, Weymouth's Ernest and Mabel and Yarmouth, Isle of Wight's Eric and Susan Hiscock), five merchant vessels and a Coastguard helicopter. Weymouth's crew recovered the remaining casualty but when Yarmouth's crew found David Clear he had already died from hypothermia. (See previous issues ofthe Lifeboat for news of the RNLI-developed MOB Guardian, an automatic alarm and position reporting system designed to help prevent just such loss of life.).