It's always a pleasure to get out and about and meet Metrica's clients.  It's particularly so when we get to see the great work that so many of them perform up close and personally. 

Metrica has been working with the RNLI (The Lifeboats) for over ten years.  The RNLI is the British and Irish charity that saves lives at sea through lifeboating, lifeguards and safety and prevention.  We had a full day of meetings with their PR team yesterday working on their exciting communications plans for the coming year as they embrace new media technologies and opportunities.  It's great to work with a team that really understand the importance of strategic planning and evaluation to help them achieve their PR and business objectives particularly so in a media environment that is diversifying so rapidly.  Of course this all means that core target audiences are becoming ever more fragmented so reaching them in new ways is more important than ever.  For the RNLI this is totally mission critical as they rely entirely on voluntary donations to support their work. 

Once the hard work was done, we were treated to a tour of the main boatyard and incredible new Lifeboat College where so many of the volunteer crews are trained. 

Spencer Gammond, Julia Sylvester of the RNLI and Lisa McKiddie of Metrica with one of the RNLI's five Hovercraft

While at the Lifeboat College, we watched as a crew of an inshore B Class boat were put through their paces in the training tank.  Their boat was capsized while a wave machine created a massive swell replicating the stormy conditions that the crew so often have to face.  The crew regrouped under the upturned hull, then, once all safe, activated the self righting mechanism which flipped the boat back the correct way up.  They re-boarded and restarted the engines, both of which have had RNLI modifications to ensure that in the event of a capsize, they first cut out immediately, and then remain watertight so that they are able to restart faultlessly.  It was a very impressive demonstration of the skills that this organisation contains - both human and mechanical.

The crew are briefed by the instructor prior to capsize

 As the tank swirls, the rib is flipped...

And she's over!  The crew are regrouping underneath the upturned hull...

 Once they are all safe and accounted for, they activate the self-righting mechanism...

And re-board the boat and restart the engines ready to continue with the rescue. 

Later, we stopped for a drink on the journey back to London in a bar overlooking Poole harbour.  As we sipped our drinks in the evening sun, we had a graphic reminder of the necessity of this amazing organisation.  The tide was running out of the harbour at an incredible speed and suddenly we were aware in the middle of the channel was an upturned sailing boat with a family of three clinging desperately to its hull as they were swept out to sea.  In front of our eyes we watched as the Poole B Class lifeboat 'The Friendly Forrester II' sped to the rescue, plucking the exhausted sailors from the water, righting their boat, making it safe and then towing it back to the safety of the harbour.

With the casualties safely on-board the lifeboat,  the stricken sailing boat is towed back to harbour by the RNLI  Apologies for the quality of the photo, taken at dusk from a distance with my mobile phone!

25th June 2008 - Update: The Poole Lifeboat website now carries a report of this incident.  To quote:

"In a slight westerly breeze, a Wayfarer dinghy, with four people onboard, had been sailing in the harbour. As the wind dropped the fast flowing ebbing tide had caused the dinghy to hit the end of the chain ferry and the boat capsized and threw the people into the water. As they were in the Swash Channel just outside the harbour’s entrance, with the tide ebbing rapidly and the Barfleur ferry due out, it was important that the people were picked up quickly. Fortunately a passing yacht was able to pick up two of the people and the ILB was on scene within 5 minutes and retrieved the other two. The ILB crew then managed to tow the inverted and dismasted dinghy out of the channel before Crew Members Simon Mumford and Jack Belcher entered the water to help right the boat. The two people onboard the yacht were then transferred to the ILB and the four casualties were taken, with their dinghy, to Parkstone Yacht Club. One of the men had a laceration above the right knee and this was cleaned and dressed while onboard the lifeboat. Once safely ashore no further medical treatment was required. "

Running the Lifeboat service is a very costly exercise. 

If you feel you would like to donate to this great charity, please do so by clicking here.