TWO volunteer crew from Bude RNLI passed out recently.

Congratulations were extended to Richie Heard and Rhys Burton who have passed their qualifications for the station’s Rescue Water Craft. Richie has recently completed his Rescue Water Craft (RWC) trainer assessor qualification and in conjunction with the lifeguard team will now be responsible for the station’s in-house training and assessment. Rhys is the station’s newest crew volunteer and completed his Rescue Water Craft operator assessment.

As well as being volunteer lifeboat crew members both Richie and Rhys are also RNLI beach Lifeguards. The volunteer RWC operators have to complete an annual assessment with a lifeguard trainer-assessor and congratulations were also expressed to Dave James who passed his annual assessment this week.

The Bude Lifeboat Station is fortunate to have both the D-class lifeboat ‘George Bird’ and a Rescue Water Craft and the volunteer crew are trained to operate both craft. The Rescue Water Craft plays an important role for the station in providing essential backup for the ILB crew and allowing crew to access the shallow and exposed coastline. 

Lifeboat operations manager, Chris Wilson said: “Firstly, congratulations to Richie and Rhys who’ve worked hard to pass both the theory and practical components of their respective Rescue Water Craft training. It’s important for Bude Lifeboat Station to have as many of our volunteer crew fully trained on the Rescue Water Craft as possible. Its ability to get further into the shallows allows our crew to reach casualties faster. It also enables us to have valuable extra crew attend rescues, providing a wealth of experience and skills to enable us to help save lives at sea.”