MRI Newsletter - Coastal Notes 2003-2004

Coastal Notes - 07/12/04
On 28 th November, yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur set off on her latest record breaking round the world trip. This time she is trying to beat Francis Joyon’s time of 72 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes and 22 seconds set in February of this year...

Coastal Notes - 16/11/04
Uganda proved to be a sobering and challenging experience. Hamish and Anders were there at the invitation of the Ugandan government to evaluate setting up a search and rescue capability and assist in the development of a national search and rescue plan for Lakes Victoria and Albert and the White Nile...

Coastal Notes - 03/11/04
2 weeks ago MRI had a courtesy visit from the new 18m Dutch lifeboat, ‘Anne – Margrete’. Based in Ameland, she had to carry out her endurance trials; her crew decided that a trip across the North Sea to Stonehaven was the perfect distance...

Coastal Notes - 20/10/04
Browsing through the pages of a local history book called ‘A Wild and Rocky Shore’ by Roy Soutar brought home just how things have changed. Between 1801 and 1900 at least 91 vessels were wrecked or foundered off the coasts of the parishes of Bervie and Benholm alone...

Coastal Notes - 06/10/04
Fiona MacKenzie from Helmsdale came to MRI (Maritime Rescue Institute) in the summer as a student taking part in the STEP (Shell Technology Enterprise Programme)...

Coastal Notes - 22/09/04
Some visitors to the harbour may have noticed that MRI 42 was out of the water recently. This was because she was having her annual survey and paint...
Following on from the German visitors in August, we currently are pleased to welcome the new Director of KNRM – the Dutch equivalent of the RNLI – accompanied by 8 members of rescue crews from around Holland...

Coastal Notes - 07/09/04
All the hard work paid off and even the weather was kind for the MRI Harbour Festival. The day raised £5,000...

Coastal Notes - 25/08/04
The MRI SAR Youth Team has been set up to offer young people in the Kincardineshire community the chance to learn new skills, essential for working at sea. Throughout the school holidays, 9 eager and enthusiastic 13-16 year olds have attended...

Coastal Notes - 18/08/04
Last weekend the MRI 24 and 4 SAR Team members travelled down the coast to Eyemouth to take part in the Sea, Salts and Sail Festival organised by the Eyemouth Boat Museum...

Coastal Notes - 04/08/04
Last week proved a very busy time for the MRI SAR team with 2 calls in 3 days with a standby in between...

Coastal Notes - 14/07/04
On July 2 nd, two representatives from MRI were invited to London to attend a reception hosted by the Commanding Officer of the Japanese Coast Guard training vessel ‘Kojima’...

Coastal Notes - 03/07/04
After a hectic month’s work, both Maritime Rescue Institute’s (MRI’s) rescue craft have been refitted and successfully completed their operational trials...

Coastal Notes - 29/06/04
The fine weather at the start of June brought the usual flock of visiting yachts into Stonehaven harbour. There have been several from Holland and Germany as well as from various parts of Scotland and England...

Coastal Notes - 15/06/04
Last week saw the launch of an innovative new project, based at the Peterhead Maritime Heritage Centre, that will run from 8 th June till 28 th August. This project aims to pass on the skills of ‘boatie’ building to a new generation...

Coastal Notes - 02/06/04
Fans of BBC 2’s ‘Restoration’ series may already be aware that one of the buildings in the running to be saved is the Hall of Clestrain in Orkney. The Hall is a very fine example of a Georgian mansion, but was also the boyhood home of one of Scotland’s unsung and forgotten heroes. Dr John Rae (1813 – 1893) is now recognised as one of the greatest Arctic explorers of all time...

Coastal Notes - 19/05/04
Right on our doorstep is one of the top three sea bird colonies in Britain, supporting around 130,000 birds...

Coastal Notes - 04/05/04
Every schoolchild knows that Christopher Columbus discovered America, Captain Cook found Australia, Ferdinand Magellan was the first to sail round the world with Francis Drake being the first Englishman to follow suit, and that Harrison invented the chronometer that enabled sailors to accurately fix their position when sailing long distances. However, these long held truths are being challenged in the face of new evidence...

Coastal Notes - 13/04/04
Over the past 3 weeks Maritime Rescue Institute hosted 2 lifeboat men from Sidmouth in Devon and 1 from Bantry Bay in SW Ireland on a week’s specialist training programme...

Coastal Notes - 15/03/04
Going to sea has always been a hazardous undertaking, whether the very early seafarers in their primitive craft, through the great explorers such as the Chinese in the 15 th century to modern cruise liners. Many techniques have been developed to make each voyage as safe as possible. One of the earliest and most crucial, even today, was a means of warning sailors of hazards ahead as they approached land – the lighthouse...

Coastal Notes - 13/03/04
At the end of last month Hamish McDonald, MRI’s Managing Director, attended a meeting of the International Lifeboat Council, the governing body of the International Lifeboat Federation...

Coastal Notes - 01/03/04
Recent mention of the Lutine Bell has raised some queries as to the story behind it ending up being rung to signal disaster in Lloyd’s of London...

Coastal Notes - 02/02/04
Last week saw another group of overseas lifeboatmen in Stonehaven for training...

Coastal Notes - 19/01/04
It took a lot of hard work by a lot of people, but MRI’s building and new rescue boat were both ready last week to welcome the first contingent of lifeboat crews from abroad...

Coastal Notes 10
Volunteer lifeboat services in Great Britain have a long and illustrious history. As far back as 1824 Sir William Hillary founded the National Institution for Preservation of Life from Shipwreck to help sailors in distress...

Coastal Notes 9
Volcanoes, earthquakes and water have all played their part in shaping our coastline. Millions of years ago, volcanic eruptions spewed forth the igneous rocks such as granite and schist which form the cliffs and mountains to the north of the Highland Boundary Fault.Forces of nature remain in complete control in Iceland, an island which came into being after shifts in the earth’s crust some 18 million years ago – quite recent in geological times. Ian Hardie, a Geography Teacher at Mackie Academy and a man with a passionate love of Iceland, has just returned from a week there...

Coastal Notes 8
Sleek, grey patrol ships have been a regular sight in Stonehaven Bay recently, prompting a few people to wonder at their official appearance and proximity to the shore...

Coastal Notes 7
For centuries the sea has been the link between Norway, Denmark, Holland and Britain. Trading, fishing and migration all took place across the open waters of the North Sea, from the Viking invasions to the exploitation of gas and oil reserves in the present day. Contact between regions and countries gave rise to similarities in culture and lifestyles and this theme is now being developed by the “Nave Nortrail” project. The project aims to conserve and highlight the common heritage of countries bordering the North Sea through the regeneration of pathways around coastal areas...

Coastal Notes 4
Fowlsheugh is one of the most important seabird reserves on mainland Britain. Although larger colonies of some species are found on islands, for example the gannet population on Saint Kilda, Fowlsheugh is almost unique in its accessibility, both by land and sea. Throughout May, June and July the RSPB, which owns the reserve, organises boat trips from Stonehaven allowing people to experience at first hand “the nearest people can get to being inside a David Attenborourgh programme”, as RSPB spokeswoman Gina Ford puts it...

Coastal Notes 3 - 28/07/03
Stonehaven is the busiest recreational council harbour in north east Scotland, with 140 berths available, from drying moorings to berths of 3 metres depth alongside the breakwater...

Coastal Notes - 30/03/03
What does it take to be a member of the MRI Search & Rescue Team?

 

[To see Coastal Notes for 2008, click here.]
[To see Coastal Notes for 2007, click here.]
[To see Coastal Notes for 2006, click here.]
[To see Coastal Notes for 2005, click here.]

 

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