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At the recent AGM of the Ventnor Angling Club, a cheque for £500 was presented to Mark Birch Senior Coxswain of Sandown & Shanklin Inshore Lifeboat.

Mark Birch delivered a presentation with slides about the work and equipment of the Lifeboat.

SSILB would like to thank the Ventnor Angling Club for the kind donation of £500, which will go toward the funding for the new Lifeboat station which will cost £180,000 for the Sandown & Shanklin Inshore Lifeboat to build and will help the service in a great way.

The Wight Network has shown its support to Sandown & Shanklin Inshore Lifeboat within it's new internet tool bar, the toolbar allows you to catch up on the Island news, check the local weather forcasts, check your e-mails, look at properties for sale, visit local websites(Like Sandown & Shanklin Inshore Lifeboat), talk in the Island Chatroom and so much more.

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The Isle of Wight Network Chatroom is now Live! Why not go and chat with other people from the Isle of Wight.

This is a great idea for the Island people, why not visit their website now and download the software to keep you connected to the Island:

Click the above banner to take you to The Wight Network and download the software.

Ladies help the Lifeboat

6th of March 2009

At the recent AGM of the Yaverland Ladies Club, a cheque for £200 was presented to Mark Birch, Senior Coxswain of Sandown & Shanklin Inshore Lifeboat.

Most of the money was raised by members when they turned out the loose change from their purses at their monthly meetings.

Mark Birch delivered a presentation with slides about the work and equipment of the Lifeboat.

Mark Birch receives a cheque from Gwen Stubbings, Chairman of the Yaverland Ladies Club

SSILB would like to thank the Yaverland Ladies Club for the kind donation of £200, which will go toward the funding for the new Lifeboat station which will cost £180,000 for the Sandown & Shanklin Inshore Lifeboat to build and will help the service in a great way.

Volunteers Step up for boat re-fit

20th of March 2009
Peter White

The generosity and hard work of several Island Businesses have ensured the Sandown & Shanklin Inshore Lifeboat is ship shape to carry on its voluntary work for the next 12 month.

Senior Coxswain Mark Birch has praised the efforts of the local companies, his 16 strong crew for pulling together to complete the annual maintenance and re-fit.

Mark said: "If we had to foot the bill ourselves, it would have probable cost us around £10,000. But thanks to the hard work of volunteers it has probable cost us around £500."

Cowes based FB fabrications, welded the roll bar at the rear of the Lifeboat, made and supplied a stainless steel battery box for the launch tractor, which takes the Lifeboat to the water's edge to be launched.

Island power tools and hire centre of Spithead Business Centre, Sandown, allowed the Lifeboats crew to use their workshop to clean, repair and paint the roll bar.

And Wightrollers engineering, also of Spithead Business Centre Sandown, repaired and serviced the engine of the launch tractor, even supplying parts.

Colin Steele, from Wightrollers, has also promised to repair for free anything that goes wrong with the launch tractor in the foreseeable future.

Mark added: "Naturally we have to keep the Lifeboat up to standard, and we carry out major on it every year, which is pre-planned ahead and some repairs as needed.

It is nice to know so many people are prepared to give their time to help us out, and I would like to thank them all for their efforts."

SSILB website updated with New feature

10th of March 2009
Richard Chantler

The SSILB website has received a new feature, Google Events Calendar is a new addition is to help browsers of our website see up and coming events that SSILB are holding or are involved in.

The feature can be accessed via the Events button, on the left hand menu or above tabs of the main website and we hope that will assist the browsers to support SSILB.

Crews unite in charity car wash

17th of April 2009

The crews at Shanklin Community Fire Station and Sandown & Shanklin Inshore Lifeboat raised almost £900 by clubbing together in a charity car wash.

It is the first time the two crews have joined forces to raise money for both services, as well as Shanklin Youth football club and the IW Air Ambulance.

"It was a fantastic getting together of emergency services working together. We do a lot of fundraising, but this was by far the most fun that we have had doing it! Everyone really enjoyed themselves. It was great working with the fire crew and hopefully we will be able to do it again sometime in the near future."

SSILB would like to thank Shanklin Community Fire Station for joining forces to do the fundraiser and all the people who had their cars washed.

Race challenge for rescuers too

22nd of June 2009

By Martin Neville

THE Round-the-Island race this year proved challenging for not only the competitors, but also for rescue crews on Saturday.

Due to a lack of wind early on, the racers came round a lot later in the day than normal, and Ryde Sands caught a number of them out as expected — at one stage there were up to 15 vessels aground on the sands.

Ryde Inshore Rescue assisted some with a tow off, but as the tide was making, some competitors declined help as this would disqualify them from the race.

In previous years, No Man’s Land fort was marked as a waypoint, but this year, due to a rule change, competitors were able to cut inside the fort.

This funnelled them just prior to the Sands, and created a bit of a bottleneck.

Meanwhile, the Sandown and Shanklin Lifeboat was tasked to three incidents during the race, including a competitor who had been washed over board half a mile off Ventnor beach.

A search was carried out and the person placed back on the yacht, a little wet and cold but otherwise well.

The lifeboat also assisted the yacht Wenn-Glass, which was dismasted half a mile off Steephill Cove.

Crews also came to the rescue of a 30ft motor vessel, MVS Arkwright, of Portsmouth, which was a safety boat for the race off Dunnose Point.

It had snagged a pot line and was effectively being towed backwards with the current.

Pulling together for good cause

1st of July 2009

By David Newble

YOUNGSTERS from Shanklin CE Primary School pulled together on Sunday by putting their backs into heaving along Sandown and Shanklin’s Inshore Lifeboat for charity.

Around 200 people, including parents, fire fighters and coastguards from Ventnor, helped with the charity pull, dragging the lifeboat and its trailer with a combined weight of four tonnes.

The charity heave, to raise funds for the lifeboat, formed part of a display by the crew of the lifeboat and the coastguard rescue helicopter based at Lee on Solent.

The helicopter and the lifeboat joined forces to stage a display where a 'casualty’ was plucked from the water by the lifeboat before being hauled to safety on board the chopper.

Senior Coxswain of the lifeboat Mark Birch said: "We had to slow the pull down there was so much force with the children and everyone hanging on. Everyone pulled together. It was fantastic."

Kayaking pair rescued

31st of August 2009

By Jon Moreno

TWO men - one of them an Islander - were rescued by a lifeboat crew after getting into difficulties while kayaking in choppy waters off Sandown on Sunday.

The adults, both aged in their mid-30s, had left Yaverland that afternoon and were overdue returning to shore.
Crews from Sandown and Shanklin Inshore Rescue and Bembridge Coastguard were scrambled at around 2.15pm.

The lifeboat crew found the men washed ashore on rocky shoreline near the tip of Culver Cliff about half an hour later.

One man from the Island and another, believed to be from South Africa, were cold and tired, but well.

Coxswain Mark Birch, of Sandown and Shanklin Inshore Rescue, said: "It looks like the conditions got a little rough when the wind picked up.

One of them capsized and they drifted ashore. At least they had the common sense to let someone know they were out there."

Photo taken by David Williams - SSILB crew member.

SANDOWN and Shanklin Inshore Lifeboat’s project to extend its station received a cash boost from Sandown Business Association (SBA).

SBA secretary Amanda Mitchell and member Walter Heinrich presented a cheque for £1,000 to lifeboat coxswain Mark Birch at the station last month. The money was raised from SBA subscriptions.

From left, Walter Heinrich, Amanda Mitchell, and coxswain and operations manager Mark Birch, with other crew members behind. Picture by Laura Holme.

Sea search after windsurfer board found

22nd of September 2009

By Richard Wright

A DRIFTING windsurfer board sparked a sea and land search off Sandown.

While the Bembridge Coastguard team searched for clues on land, Sandown & Shanklin Inshore Lifeboat responded to a 999 call by carrying out a sea search.

The board was spotted close to the lifeboat station shortly before 1pm on Friday.

Senior coxswain Mark Birch said: "We found the board with no equipment on it and returned it to shore. We made a search from its position to Culver and back but nothing was found.

Two rescued as catamaran capsizes

9th of October 2009

By Ross Findon

A PAIR of sailors, whose catamaran capsized leaving them struggling in bad weather for around an hour, were rescued by Sandown and Shanklin Inshore Lifeboat on Saturday evening.

The pair were drifting in strong winds that were pushing them out to sea when they were spotted by a member of the public who contacted the coastguard.

The sailors were described as cold but uninjured and were taken back to shore in the lifeboat, which towed the capsized catamaran back to shore.

The two cold, but uninjured sailors on their capsized catamaran.

A YOUNG sailor who capsized in bad weather, leaving her and a friend facing a night at sea, has spoken of their dramatic rescue.

Experienced dinghy sailor Christine Roman, 16, had been out in Sandown Bay on her Dart 15 for 20 minutes on Saturday when the boat flipped over, throwing her and friend Richard Hunter, 19, into the cold water.

The pair tried frantically to right the vessel several times, becoming increasingly exhausted.

They eventually gave up and rested on the upturned hull but the stricken vessel began to drift further out to sea, where winds were blowing up to force seven.

Christine, a Sandown High School pupil, said: "We were drifting and we were petrified.

"We were too far out to swim, we could not right the boat and the mobile phone we had with us in a plastic bag had stopped working. We were just hoping someone would spot us, but it was starting to get dark.
"I thought we would have to spend the night out there."

When the pair saw the flashing light of Sandown and Shanklin Inshore Lifeboat’s launch tractor they were elated but their happiness was short-lived after the lifeboat sped off in the opposite direction.
"We were so happy when we saw them launching.
"Then we saw them heading the wrong way and we couldn’t believe it, we thought that was it," said Christine, who has almost completed her RYA dinghy instructor training.

Luckily the lifeboat, directed by Ventnor Coastguard, spotted the pair and turned around.
Lifeboat coxswain Mark Birch said: "They were very happy to see us. If they had been out there much longer they would have drifted even further out to sea, where the weather was very choppy.
"If they had been out there all night they would have probably had hypothermia.
"It was very lucky someone spotted them and did the right thing by dialling 999 and asking for the Coastguard."

Christine Roman, safe now after her frightening experience after her upturned boat drifted out to sea. Picture by Jennifer Burton.

Sandown & Shanklin Inshore Lifeboat (SSILB) came to the aid of a catamaran and it’s occupiers after it capsized half a mile off Sandown Bay.

The Inshore Lifeboat crew were tasked by Solent Coastguard after receiving a 999 call from a member of the public.

The team arrived on the scene, directed by the Ventnor Coastguard, and found a man and a woman on board who were very cold and had been sat on their capsized boat for over an hour.

Mark Birch, SSIL senior coxswain, said: “Due to the strong westerly winds blowing at force seven further out to sea, the casualties were being taken further out and if no one had spotted this who knows what could have happened.”

The crew of SSIL righted the catamaran and towed the vessel, along with her crew, back to the lifeboat station.

The crew onshore then assisted in beaching of the catamaran, whilst others helped warmed the causalities, whilst Ventnor Coastguard checked over the causalities and interviewed them.

Mark added: “We managed to take them and their craft back to our station, where are shore crew warmed them up and the lifeboat crew got there boat on the shore.

“It was very lucky that a person spotted these people and did the correct thing by dialling 999 to report it to the Coastguard.”

Christine Roman speaking with The IOW Gazette

Christine Roman speaking with The IOW Gazette

Christine Roman

Following the dramatic rescue from the Solent by the crew of Sandown and Shanklin Inshore Lifeboat, The Gazette spoke exclusively to one of the people involved, teenage sailor Christine Roman, after she became stranded off Sandown Bay after her catamaran capsized.
The 16-year-old Sandown High School student had only owned the boat for two weeks after her mum bought it for her as a present, after she had finished her exams.
Christine, who has been sailing for just over four years, said: “We left Shanklin and had only been out for about 20 minutes. It was starting to get dark and the wind was getting stronger, so we thought that it best to start heading back to shore. But suddenly the boat nose-dived into the wave and just flipped over.

“We were thrown in to the ice cold water and then started to panic. Somehow, Richard and myself managed to get on top of overturned boat, and we started to discuss and consider what our options were. It was very scary, nothing like this had ever happened before.”
Christine continued: “We were going to swim back but that was out of the question because we too far out. As the waves got bigger and we drifted further out we also talked about leaving the boat, so it would drift towards the cliffs and get into land that way.
“But we decided that if we waited for the morning, the weather and the sea would be a lot a calmer because I checked the forecast, and we would have been able to right the boat on our own.
“We sat on the boat for what felt like ages. For most of the time we just sat on the hull of the boat hugging each other for warmth. I kept thinking about what are we going to do. Richard isn’t a sailor, and had never been out sailing before. Looking back at it now, we were both very silly as we only had one lifejacket on board.”
Christine went on to explain the moment that she saw the lifeboat heading towards her.
“We didn’t know anyone had raised the alarm. We were sat on top of the boat drifting, and saw these lights but we couldn’t make out what was going as we were so far off land.
“We saw the boat heading towards us, but it went past us and carried on towards Shanklin. My heart sank when that happened.
“But then it turned around, and I realized it had come to save us. I had a mobile phone but it was in a bag tied to the boat and I couldn’t get to it.
“When the boat turned back around, it was great feeling of relief knowing that we didn’t have to stay out there. We had no idea that they had it just so great that the lifeboat was available to help us.
“When the lifeboat came they were really good, and picked the boat up and towed it back to shore. They weren’t judgmental at all, and I have only got praise for them. I’m really grateful to the lifeboat crew they where really amazing. They are a brilliant bunch of people.
“When I got back home, I spent the night drying out and thinking about how lucky I had been.
“I want to go to university and study marine engineering, but I think after what has happened I might change my mind.”

Mobile helped save sailor’s life

27th of October 2009

By Martin Neville

A MOBILE phone may have saved the life of a sailor who was thrown overboard at the weekend.

Sandown and Shanklin Lifeboat raced to the rescue after the owner of a catamaran sailing boat phoned 999 to report his vessel had capsized and his crewmate was thrown into the water. The man, who had drifted away, could not make his way back to the vessel and the conditions were worsening. The lifeboat found the catamaran one-and-a-half miles off Shanklin and conducted a search for the missing man.

He was found and returned to the vessel, which they managed to right and guide back to shore at Hope Beach. Mark Birch, lifeboat coxswain, said: "These guys were extremely lucky they had a mobile phone they could use, as the current and wind were not in their favour. "Talking to them after the rescue, they had read an article about two people we rescued three weeks earlier and wondered why they couldn’t re-right it. "After this experience, they could understand the difficulties in heavy swell and gusting wind. "They were very grateful and thanked all the crew for their help."

The catamaran starts to right itself with the assistance of SSILB.