Rob Le Marinel

I had been working as a Marine Engineer for 15 years and spent a lot of time on boats and at sea. I felt my experience could be put to good use in joining the St Helier Lifeboat crew. I had always admired the lifeboat volunteers and felt I was at a time in my life where I could commit my time and expertise for the good of the community. The camaraderie and friendships are second to none. I know that any time I go to sea, whether it's day or night, sunshine or in a storm, I have a group of like-minded volunteers that have my back and all want to do their best on each shout. Being a marine engineer, I am in awe of our Tamar class all weather lifeboat: it is a state of the art boat with complex systems and it gives me a great sense of achievement to be able to take her to sea as one of her mechanics. On one of my acquaintance trips with the RNLI crew, we were tasked to rescue 3 Russian ballet dancers that were due to perform at the Opera House. They had walked out to Elizabeth castle and had become cut off by the tide. Another memorable rescue was for the search of a missing diver. It was a 'both boat' launch and a very fast paced tasking. It was the first time for me that we had been launched for a search and rescue job with many varying factors that had to be considered. The diver was found safe and well.