Lifeboat launch at Lyme Regis

I had just finished eating my fish and chips on a bench at The Cobb, Lyme Regis, Dorset, when all of a sudden, a klaxon sounded and a pre-recorded message came over the speakers from the adjacent lifeboat station, "Clear the area, the lifeboat is about to launch". Well, I've never seen a lifeboat launch before and as luck would have it, I had my camera with me which was already set up on a tripod ready to take some night shots of the town.

Where I was sitting overlooks the small harbour in The Cobb. Moored in the harbour were a number of small boats. The tide was out and consequently, the water was not very deep in the harbour; indeed you would be struggling to get your ankles wet in the harbour let alone launch a lifeboat. As I moved my tripod with the camera on top towards the edge of the walkway, I saw a number of cars hastily arrive and park close to the lifeboat station. I guessed that the occupants of the cars were the volunteer crew of the lifeboat. My guess was confirmed when I saw these guys run into the lifeboat station.

I was less than a fifty metres from the slipway outside the lifeboat station and turned my camera towards the bottom of the slipway. I then hastily took an exposure reading and set up the camera accordingly. Shortly after doing this, the lifeboat trundled out in what I can only describe as a cage and was being pushed towards the slipway by a tractor. There were crew members atop of the lifeboat, which had it's blue light flashing together with navigation lights on.

The tractor slowly pushed the lifeboat down the slipway and along the harbour bed towards the harbour entrance. The tractor, together with the lifeboat, picked it's way through the boats in the harbour and when they reached the harbour entrance, the lifeboat was discharged from the cage and went off into the night.

Unfortunately, because of the darkness, my shutter speed was so slow that the only thing that gives away the presence of the lifeboat are the streaks of coloured lights in the image. You will see a dashed blue line above the streaks of colour; I think that this must be from the blue flashing light on the lifeboat.

I had a chat with some of the guys at the lifeboat station and they told me that this launch was the real thing and not a practice. I was also told that it took just nine minutes for the crew to get from their homes and launch the lifeboat. I though that was pretty impressive.

After all the excitement I wondered what I could do to calm myself down a bit. I know, I thought to myself, I think I'll go to the.............