Our Man Overboard dummy remains one of our most popular rescue training manikins – and we are always pleased to see ‘Fred’ (as he is often known) put to good use by different water rescue teams, including the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI).
Although we see these manikins day-in-day-out, we don’t always get to see them ‘in action’ so we were grateful when Exmouth Lifeboat Station, sent us these great photos and some information about the training they recently completed with ‘Fred’.
David Littlefield, RNLI – Community Safety Officer said,
“Here’s a selection of photos from yesterday’s training session with the National Coast Watch station at Exmouth. The basis of the training was to assist the NCI with their annual DFS (Declared Facility Status) whereby their standard is checked. In this case, they were assessing whether their staff working in the watchtower could locate ‘Fred’ in the sea, and then use their bearing and distance equipment to lead the lifeboat onto the target for retrieval from the water; all whilst speaking to the lifeboat via VHF radio. This was attempted over a large area of water with a running tide and each time ‘Fred’ was retrieved in a timely manner by the lifeboat crew. Thanks for making such a good product!”
