Introduction to Hayling Coastguards.

- Thu 8th Jun 2006

Most Islanders are accustomed to seeing the blue and yellow Coastguard vehicles running around, but not all are aware of the role of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (Or MCA for short) and what resources are available on and around Hayling Island.

Hayling Island is the central district within Portsmouth Sector Coastguards; the other two Districts in the Sector being Selsey and Portsmouth.  

The MCA appoint one full time Coastguard to manage the entire Sector – but all other staff are volunteer or “auxiliary” Coastguards.    In reality, the Sector Manager has a very busy life as he has 3 districts to manage, plus it is his responsibility to conduct all the inspections on local fishing and other commercial boats – so he is happy to rely on the volunteers for the rest of the Coastguard work.    

On Hayling Island there are eleven volunteer Coastguards, two of whom are elected as Station Officer and Deputy Station Officer.  Almost all of the volunteers have full time jobs – but have understanding employers who are prepared to let them rush off if their pagers sound the alert.   At all times, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (including Christmas Day) there are 2 members of the Hayling Coastguard Team on call.

Even though it is a volunteer position – training is taken very seriously, and all volunteers are professionally trained in 15 major skills (which the MCA call Competencies) before they become qualified as a fully-fledged Coastguard.   Normally, it takes 6-12 months to learn these skills,. It is also necessary to attend a full time 3 day First Aid course and gain a first aid certificate as well.

Each week – the Coastguards patrol various parts of the patch (or “Guard”). Since the Guard goes from Bedhampton in the West to Fishbourne in the East, there is around 60 miles of coastline involved.  One of the most important competencies is local knowledge, and it takes a long time to learn where all the beach access points are located and how to get to every particular waterside location.  For instance, it is no good being tasked to go to Conigar Point to investigate a report of a dinghy in trouble – if you have no idea where Conigar Point is in the first place, or how to get to it!

Hayling Coastguards also put on various safety presentations for local organisations – and will also attend schools locally to try and get water-safety messages across to the younger members of the community.

The team handle around 200 incidents each year.  Many of these are routine call outs – but there are also emergency searches where the entire team will be tasked to search beaches and harbours for missing people.    In some cases, these searches will be in conjunction with the local Lowland Search Dogs team so that the Coastguards can handle all the radio communications and deal with First Aid, whilst the dog-handler controls the dog.

Being a Coastguard is a varied and enjoyable role – and on Hayling Island the average length of service within the Coastguard Team is in excess of 10 years.  

Over the coming months we will bring you details of some of our incidents – plus any presentations being given that are open to the public.

Welcome to the Hayling Coastguard Team!

By forum user, HIbot