JERSEY’s Lieutenant-Governor, Vice-Admiral Jerry Kyd – who once had command of the UK’s largest aircraft carrier – was recently invited to visit the RNLI’s St Helier lifeboat station, where he decided to join the crew for a training exercise.
Vice-Admiral Kyd visited the station to meet the volunteer crew and see first-hand the capabilities of the two lifeboats stationed there, including the Tamar class vessel, George Sullivan.
Despite the poor weather, he joined the crew for an exercise scenario that saw the all-weather craft, as well as the inshore lifeboat, locate a “missing swimmer” on rocks near the Demie de Pas lighthouse.
It also required the all-weather lifeboat to launch its own, smaller craft – known as the Y-boat – so that two members of the crew could administer first aid and prepare the “casualty” for an extraction to the inshore lifeboat before they were transferred to George Sullivan.
Vice-Admiral Kyd is himself an experienced and distinguished mariner, having served as a Royal Naval officer for more than 30 years – including time spent commanding HMS Queen Elizabeth, the UK’s largest aircraft carrier.
He said: “Having been a professional mariner all my life, I wanted to come and see for myself the crew at work. It’s a complete privilege to be here with Gibby and his excellent crew today seeing their professionalism and the slickness of all this. It’s a great reminder to everyone in Jersey about the safety wrap we have around the Island that’s here 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to respond to people in trouble offshore or on the beaches.
“It’s wonderful – I’m very, very impressed with what I’ve seen so far.”
Nigel Sweeny, RNLI Jersey’s lifeboat operations manager, added: “We feel hugely privileged to have hosted the Lieutenant-Governor onboard our all-weather lifeboat.
“It really lifts the spirits of the crew to have such a distinguished visitor taking an interest in our work, and we are very grateful to the Lieutenant-Governor and his team for making the time to see us.”
He continued: “RNLI Jersey is entirely dependent on public donations to be able to train the crew, maintain the equipment and launch the lifeboats.
“It is a testament to the generosity of this Island community that we have two RNLI Jersey stations providing excellent cover to the whole Island.”
