RNLI Jersey has been honoured with a visit by His Excellency Vice Admiral Jerry Kyd CBE who took the opportunity to meet some of the crew and join an exercise onboard the RNLI’s all-weather lifeboat.

His Excellency was invited to visit RNLI Jersey’s St Helier lifeboat station to meet the volunteer crew and see first-hand the capabilities of the two lifeboats stationed there.

Notwithstanding the adverse weather, His Excellency was keen to take a trip aboard the Tamar class all-weather lifeboat, George Sullivan, and the crew were happy to oblige.

The exercise scenario saw St Helier’s all-weather lifeboat and inshore lifeboat coordinate efforts to locate a ‘missing swimmer’, who was found on rocks, not far from the Demi des Pas. Reaching the casualty required the all-weather lifeboat to launch its own, smaller craft - known as the Y-boat - to put two members of crew on the rock with the casualty, administer first aid and prepare the casualty for extraction to the inshore lifeboat, for onward transfer to the all-weather lifeboat.

Having served as a Royal Naval officer for more than 30 years, including commanding HMS Queen Elizabeth, the UK’s largest aircraft carrier, His Excellency, Vice Admiral Jerry Kyd expressed his keen interest in the work of the RNLI, saying
"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."

Although somewhat nerve wracking to have such an experienced and distinguished mariner onboard St Helier’s all-weather lifeboat, the crew really appreciated the Lieutenant Governor making the time to come and see their work. Nigel Sweeny, RNLI Jersey’s Lifeboat Operations Manager said:

“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.”

RNLI Jersey is entirely dependent on public donations to be able to train the crew, maintain the equipment and launch the lifeboats and 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”.