Young business owner Christian Carney is also a member of the RNLI's volunteer lifeboat crew in Sunderland.
He takes us through how the Sunderland Lifeboat Station operates - and how he can be called there at 10 minutes' notice.
He takes us through how the Sunderland Lifeboat Station operates - and how he can be called there at 10 minutes' notice.
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00:00So we're on call, I'm on call now, so we carry a pager, it goes in hand with day one of the business,
00:05we can get called out at any time. If we get called out, you know, I sort of leave everything here
00:10and then go down to the lifeboat station.
00:13So you get a call, your pager or your phone goes off, you've got to be here within 10 minutes, is it?
00:18So what happens next when you get here, what would happen?
00:20Yeah, so we try to get down in around 10 minutes, we then go into the changing room,
00:25get our kit on as what you can see here, the boat crew will get chosen,
00:29so if we're going with the 85 or the B4 crew, the D class 3, the helm, the commander of the,
00:35you know, the search and rescue operation would say to us, this is the crew, this is the incident
00:40we're going to, the rest of the crew that isn't going on the incident will come to this section
00:44here, get the PPE on, the shore crew PPE and then prepare us for launching.
00:49My name's Christian, I'm business owner here in Sunland, behind us here we have the train line,
00:53which is one of our main businesses across the Sunland area, so yeah, day-to-day jobs is business owner.
01:01I'm a crewman, I've been on the crew now for 11 years, I've done various different call-outs over my time.
01:10Yeah, it's been a big part of my life now for a long time, so I always try to fit in sort of
01:15volunteering, giving back to the community because they support the business and if it wasn't for the
01:20community around here, across Sunland, you know, the business wouldn't be here, so I like to give
01:24something back for the people that you all support, you know.
01:27This is where we come, so say we get a call-out, we come to here, this is sort of this section, sort of where our commanders would be,
01:36we've got a screen that tells us who's attending the station, so we can see all that
01:41information on there, the commander will come in, call the Coast Guard, find out what the job is
01:47and then obviously take the team from there and then decide, you know, on our brief and things like that.
01:51So the commander is a helm at the lifeboat station, he's in command of the boat, he's in command of sort of
01:58the lifeboat, making sure the crew's safe and making sure, most importantly, it's safe for us to go to that job.
02:05Is one of the reasons why it's set out like this, as a sort of specific load, you've got to
02:09go through to make sure you get your kit on in the quickest possible time?
02:11Yeah, so we've got different features of the kit here, this is our woolly vest, this is what we wear
02:16underneath the dry suit, then we've got our dry suit here, which is attached as the wellies,
02:23you can see they're attached at the bottom there.
02:25Would you wear all that even in the middle of the summer here?
02:28Yeah, we have got different sort of base layers and things we can wear, but they're sort of the main features of the kit.
02:34I started at 13, 13 doing my duty at Reddenborough there, so that was good, bronze, silver and gold,
02:40that was just the shore crew, enjoyed my time doing that and then when I become the age that I could join,
02:46I've joined there as crew, went through a trainee programme and then now full crew.
02:51Yeah, so to outline the duty pack, it's called, we use this boat for things that are sort of a little bit further away from beaches,
02:58you know, we don't tend to go into the beach with this boat just because of the size and the draft of us,
03:03so we use the smaller D-class boat to go into the beach, into rocky areas.
03:07It's designed as a sort of vessel that can be took offshore, however if it does go too far,
03:12we get the bigger offshore boats down and the likes of ones at time of the big boats, you know.
03:17How is a boat like this built, because obviously I'm guessing you must have had times go out in pretty rough conditions,
03:22how is this boat built to withstand that sort of setting out at sea?
03:25Yeah, so these boats are built in a life centre and they're designed to, you know, to deal with quite bad weather.
03:32We've got ballast tanks on board that we can fill up and, you know, that stops the movement of the boat
03:37and it also helps keep the bow down during them rough seas, you know, so we've got ballast tanks that we fill up.
03:44We've got loads of different safety features on board as well, it self-rights itself, so we've got a...
03:50Sorry, how is that one of them turned out to turn right?
03:52Just at the back, we've got gas bottles on either side, so if it does go wrong, you know, we pull the toggle, we swim out.
03:59By go wrong, I mean...
04:00Yeah, capsize, yeah, sorry, yeah, if we do unfortunately capsize, this boat is designed to re-right itself.
04:07When I was 11, maybe 11, 12 year old, I got into sailing down at the Yacht Club, just at the mocha there
04:13and I always seen the lifeboat out on the water, seeing them doing exercises, seeing them doing jobs
04:18and I thought, you know, I quite fancy some of that and obviously I knew a couple of the people there.
04:23I went round, introduced myself and ever since then, I've been there ever since.
04:28So, this boat will carry four crew, four crew on board.
04:31And who would go where? So, main driver there, what would this be used for?
04:34Yeah, so this is sort of, we've got navigation here, radio, so whoever's on the nav, the radar, radio, they sit in the two and three seat.
04:43The fourth seat's more of a lookout person, keeping their eyes on the board and that's what they would do in that seat.
04:50We've got the straps under there, just for your feet to go into.
04:53Right.
04:54Yeah, so that's how we would secure ourselves.
04:56And you actually, one of your roles is to drive this boat, is it, from time to time?
05:00Yeah, we do drive. We carry a helm on board, which is a commander of the vessel.
05:04Right.
05:05That doesn't mean to say the commander drives all the time, sometimes the commander sits in the fourth seat
05:09but they oversee any sort of search and rescue operations, training, anything like that.
05:13So, you're out on this boat, you get to a casualty, they say they're unconscious in the water,
05:17how would you go about, because, you know, you'd wake an hour up, elevated here, we're not on the water,
05:21we'd still be quite high up, how would you go about getting a casualty from the water into this boat?
05:25We've got many different ways we can do it, you know, depending on the casualty, the injuries, the circumstances.
05:31We've got options, like we said before, the yacht harness we can strap onto the black straps and use as a step.
05:36Sometimes that's not always the best option.
05:38We can deflate the sponsons on this boat, if we need to, to bring the casualty on board as well.
05:42So, it's an inflatable, inflatable rib craft, so, like I said, we can deflate the sponsons, if need be, to get the casualty on board.
05:51And if the casualty's on board, it's replaced with, they'd be sort of sat down, or if they're unconscious, laying down.
05:56Yeah, so we have got a stretcher as well, we do carry a stretcher with us, so there's that as an option.
06:01It all depends on sort of the circumstances of the casualty, what the condition of the casualty is like, you know.
06:09I know we talked a bit about scenarios outside there, but can you talk me through a scenario where you've had to use this particular vessel?
06:14I know this vessel goes sort of further afield, maybe with more serious incidents.
06:17So, can you talk me through a situation where you've had to use this vessel for a rescue?
06:20Yeah, so, tow jobs, you know, sort of most of the crafts, what you see in the marina, we would tow with this vessel.
06:28That's sort of the majority of the jobs that we do here.
06:32Is that based on what? Engines failing?
06:34Yeah, a lot of things, engines failing, yeah, you know, they haven't ran the boat during the winter.
06:38They come on a nice summer's day, and then go out, and then, you know, it's poor maintenance over the time, but yeah.
06:46And that scenario there, I'm guessing if you didn't rescue them, it wouldn't take long before you drift?
06:50Yeah, it's safe to say before the offshore wind, you know, can still catch you, actually, and drift you off, no matter how heavy the vessel is.
06:57So, I mean, what sort of size boat could this tow, maybe? I'm not sure.
07:00I mean, how big are these engines you've got on the back there?
07:02So, we've got 215 horsepower Yamaha engines in the back, so it does go quite big.
07:10Could you tow sort of a medium-sized yacht with this thing, when you've got a small vessel?
07:13Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, we could tow a medium-sized yacht.
07:16We can tow most things. When you start to get into bigger stuff, you know, heavier stuff, then we would get a bigger boat down.
07:22But yeah, the majority of things around here, we can tow with this boat.
07:26So, is this the one which is generally called that, or would it be the smaller boat over there for most rescues and most situations?
07:32I would probably say a little bit of both, you know. The littler boat does jobs up the river.
07:37So, now as times have changed, we've got an online calendar. We book on and off through that.
07:42And then what happens, we get the Coast Guard to contact us, the DLA, who's in charge of sort of launching the boats.
07:50And then we will get the page from there to explain to us what job we're attending.
07:55And then we head to the lifeboat station.
07:56Basically, when I left school, I went to college. I went to South Shades Marine School.
08:01And then I just decided, you know, it's not for me.
08:04I always wanted to be in business from a young age.
08:07And then I decided, look, this is what I want to do.
08:10I want to live my dream.
08:12I left the college and then my family have a garden centre.
08:16So, I went into the garden centre, basically worked in there seven days a week, you know, non-stop.
08:21Saved up the money and then bought my first ever business.
08:24That was on Sea Road, just down the road there.
08:26The train line we opened up in 2020, yeah, as a dessert shop.
08:31And ever since then, you know, it's just been a really, really good journey.
08:35We've had support from other businesses as we opened.
08:39We've worked with, you know, some big brands.
08:41And obviously, we're here on the Metro line, so it's good.
08:44You know, and all the staff here are great.
08:46We employ, we try to keep some staff.
08:49We give a chance to younger people because I got the chance.
08:52So, we give that chance to younger people leaving school, 17-year-old, that kind of thing.
08:57And we like to keep them, you know.
08:58We look after the staff and they seem to stay with us.
09:01So, it's good.
09:03So, obviously, you're the guys who go in the actual boat.
09:05You mentioned launch crews and what have you and various other roles.
09:08So, what are the other roles which people would do here as opposed to going out on the boat?
09:11A lot of people are qualified to do both things, as in shore crew and boat crew here.
09:17So, the shore crew is launching recovery of both boats using the davit on the lines.
09:23And then, if anything happens on the pontoons, they're there as shore crew.
09:28I'm guessing in terms of your training, obviously, it's not just being able to go out
09:32to sea and to drive the boats and that sort of thing.
09:33Because, obviously, when you get the casualties, you've got to get them to hospital,
09:36maybe as quickly as you can.
09:37But sometimes, you've got to deal with first aid situations there and then.
09:39So, I'm guessing you're all very well qualified first aid wise as well, yeah?
09:42Yeah. So, we do have a casualty care course, which qualifies us to use first aid.
09:48You know, we've got a quite in-depth casualty first aid course.
09:54When you pull the toggle, this is what you get when it inflates.
09:58You've got different safety features on there.
10:00Again, you've got a whistle, you've got a light.
10:03You've got a hood if need be.
10:04So, that's what this life jacket looks like inflated.
10:07So, would you use that in an emergency situation if you've gone in?
10:09We wouldn't if we were going to get a casualty.
10:11However, if we find ourselves in difficulty or we maybe had a casualty,
10:17this also gives us more buoyancy.
10:18So, it keeps us up above the water as well.
10:21Okay.
10:21And obviously, you've got your normal gear on there.
10:23What's this one here then?
10:24These are our casualty mannequins.
10:27So, we use these for various different scenarios,
10:33bringing a casualty on board, different things like that.
10:37What we've got here, obviously, is just quite a bit of history in terms of
10:40who's been a volunteer here or who's led the set.
10:42What are all these?
10:43These are all jobs that we've done over the years.
10:47We had to stop at one point because we'd have a station full of boards.
10:50I guess sort of camaraderie and close-knit team as well.
10:53Is that part of it?
10:54Yeah, definitely.
10:54You have to be for the kind of environment that we volunteer in.
10:59You have to be a close team.
11:01It's like a second family here down here.
11:03Obviously, you're volunteers.
11:05You go out in all conditions.
11:06You must deal with some pretty unpleasant situations as well.
11:11For you, what is the best thing about being part of the RNLI then as a volunteer?
11:14What sort of motivates you to want to keep doing it and what's the best thing about it?
11:17Yeah, it's been a big part of my life for a long time now.
11:21Being around the water, you can see things sharp go wrong.
11:25It's that feeling of when you've maybe saved somebody
11:29or when you've done something that's made someone's day better.
11:33It's that feeling that keeps us down here.
11:34I always know that there's a possibility that I do get called out.
11:39It could happen anytime.
11:41I give quite a bit of daytime cover at the lifeboat station,
11:43so I do try and provide as much cover as I can.
11:47But no, it's never sort of been a problem.
11:49However, sometimes you can be out there a long time,
11:51but it's what I signed up to do.