Rnli Aith Lifeboat

The RNLI Aith Lifeboat Charles Lidbury was called out at 2.57pm on Sunday 11 November, when a member of the public reported a capsized boat, just off Muckle Roe, in the north of Shetland.
The volunteer crew who attended included Ali Cameron from Kirkwall, who was standing in for Aith Coxswain Adam James while he is away on leave.
The lifeboat left the pier within a few minutes, and made way with haste to the reported area, along with the local Coastguard rescue helicopter.
... Crew engineer John Robertson said that they were aware that people may be in the water, so time was of the essence.
When the lifeboat arrived on the scene, the vessel thought to be in difficulty was identified as a sailing dinghy, however the two people on board had managed to right the dinghy, and get safely back to the nearby marina in Brae.
As the dinghy and all occupants were found to be safe, the volunteer crew were then stood down.
The lifeboat crew then took the opportunity to carry out some impromptu winch training, along with the Coastguard helicopter, before returning to the lifeboat station shortly after.
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We had the pleasure of working with HM Coastguard’s helicopter rescue crew on this mornings exercise.
The purpose of our joint exercise was to practice a ‘highline' which is a means of landing a casualty stretcher on deck and then returning it back to the helicopter crew in order for rapid evacuation.
Thanks to HM Coastguard’s helicopter crew in helping us to maintain our training in joint exercises, hopefully we don’t have to do this in anger any time soon!

The RNLI Aith Lifeboat Charles Lidbury was launched at approximately 7:15 pm on 03 July 2018, tasked to go and help two people who were stranded on the isle of Uyea, which is at the far north of Shetland.
One member of the family had taken the others ashore, from their boat, in the afternoon, using a small dinghy to get them to the beach.
However, when they tried to return to their boat later on in the day, the dinghy had capsized several times, due to the building waves. It ...had therefore been impossible for the woman and child, who were still on the beach, to get back to their boat, and they had no other way of getting off the beach, as it was surrounded by cliffs.
On arrival at the scene the lifeboat crew launched the Y boat, with volunteer members Peter Leask and Nick McCaffrey on board, in dry suits. They were able to retrieve the woman and child from the beach and returned them to their own boat.
The family were unhurt by their ordeal, and although cold, they were back on their boat by 8:40 pm and able to make their own way home.
The Charles Lidbury then returned to Aith and was back at the lifeboat station by 9:50 pm approximately.
Around 190 people die in UK and Irish waters each year, and around half of those who drown never intended to get wet. If you are going out around the coast, remember to check the weather and tide times, and always carry a means of calling for help.
Photo credit RNLI/John Robertson
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RNLI Charles Lidbury goes to the rescue of Blue the spaniel!
The RNLI Aith lifeboat Charles Lidbury was called out at approximately 8:22pm on 30 June 2018, to go to the aid of a cocker spaniel stuck down some cliffs.
The spaniel, which was called Blue, was stuck down cliffs just south of the Muckle Roe lighthouse, in the north of Shetland.
... Once the volunteer crew arrived at the scene, the Y class lifeboat was launched, and with some help from the dog owners, the crew managed to locate the dog at the bottom of the cliffs.
The Y class lifeboat approached the dog, and crew member Graham Johnston then reached over and recovered Blue into the lifeboat. They then headed to a nearby beach at Muckle Roe, where his owners, and the Hillswick Coastguard team were waiting to get Blue onto dry land.
Volunteer crew member Nick McCaffrey said: ‘the dog was lovely and just wanted to rest’.
Blue seemed none the worse for his mishap, and after reuniting him with his owners, the crew then returned to RNLI Aith Lifeboat Station.
In 2017, there were a total of 8,436 lifeboat launches, and on average 22 people were aided each day.
Photo shows crew member Graham Johnston with dog Blue in Y boat. Photo credit RNLI/Nick McCaffrey.
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A glorious evening to have an exercise!

Huge thank you to everyone that came and supported the Aith Lifeboat on Sunday at our annual Gala Day! The donations have been counted and the grand total is an amazing £5808.76! Thank you again for your fantastic support!

Here is a photo of Captain Marius Joensen presenting the cheque to crew member John Robertson. Also pictured L-R Allan Willmore, Chris Smith, David Nicolson, Luke Bullough. Missing from picture Lewis Fraser and Pete Hanscombe.

RNLI Aith given £5000 cheque!
Volunteer crew members of RNLI Aith lifeboat station were delighted to accept a cheque for £5000, from Captain Marius Joensen last week.
Captain Joensen had been aboard the fish carrier Migdale, which the RNLI lifeboat Charles Lidbury had been called out to help, on 24 February 2018.... The vessel had encountered propulsion problems, and was drifting, when met by the lifeboat, at around five nautical miles north east of the isle of Foula. RNLI Charles Lidbury had then towed the Migdale back to Aith, to await collection from a tug.
Captain Joenson said he was very grateful for the help from the volunteer crew, and he realised that the outcome on that day could have been much worse, had the RNLI lifeboat Charles Lidbury not come to their rescue.
Engineer John Robertson thanked Captain Joensen for the donation and said that this was what the charity did - saved lives at sea.
For more details please see the full story on the RNLI news centre, follow this link:
https://rnli.org/…/rnli-charles-lidbury -called-out-to-go-to…
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This is just a collection of footage gathered from this mornings exercise.

Some photos from this mornings exercise.

RNLI Aith has recruited a new coxswain! Please follow the link below to read all about Adam, and to view a video of him taking the lifeboat Charles Lidbury out on exercise.
https://rnli.org/…/2018/march/09/rnli-a ith-gets-new-coxswain

The Aith Lifeboat was tasked by Shetland CG this morning at 0509 to go to the aid of a 40m live fish carrier. The casualty vessel had lost propulsion 4nm north east of Foula. Once on scene the lifeboat attached a tow line and set a course back to Aith where the vessel would set anchor and await a tug to tow it to drydock. The crew experienced 5m swells in a tow that lasted around 6 hours. After the casualty vessel had set their anchors and were happy they weren't drifting the Aith Lifeboat made it's way back to station at 1330.

The Aith lifeboat was tasked by Shetland Coastguard tonight at 1855 to go to possible sightings of flares in the Burra area. Further information was gathered by the Coastguard Rescue Teams in the area and it was discovered it was in fact fireworks that were mistaken for distress flares. The Charles Lidbury was then stood down and returned to station. False alarm with good intent.