State of the Art

This is the Duke of Edinburgh Shannon Class Lifeboat recently arrived at Wells-Next-the-Sea.  It's 13 meters long, can reach speeds of over 25 knots, is powered by two 13 litre, 650HP engines and is propelled by water jets rather than having a propeller.  This makes it extremely manoeuvrable. The build cost is £2.5m, all raised by charitable donations.  The text and numbers on the side of the boat and the roof contain 15,000 names of those who've donated funds as part of the RNLI 'Launch a Memory' scheme (see extra). This replaces the previous lifeboat that served for 32 years.  Accompanying the lifeboat is the SLARS (Shannon Lifeboat Launch & Recovery System), which is a giant tractor-like machine which has a launch ramp integrated within it so it can take it out to the water's edge and launch it.  When the lifeboat returns it beaches itself and the SLARS winches it back onto it's ramp and then rotates the whole platform 180 degrees so that the lifeboat is facing the correct way to launch when needed next.

Our U3A Digital Photo Group was priviledged to enjoy a photoshoot at Wells lifeboat station this morning.  It was fascinating and awe-inspiring to be shown around this beautiful boat.