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| The Mersey Class heading from Pwllheli to Holhead - Prints available HERE |
Wednesday saw the second exercise with
Holyhead RNLI. This time however, I was to be aboard the large and immensely powerful Severn Class, the RNLB Christopher Pearce, impressive structure, gorgeous rich colours and showroom condition and just the most throbbingly powerful, deep sounding twin engines. This was the evening I get a feel for what she was like powering over the Irish Sea. Today's Coxswain would be Brian Thomson MBE, an highly experienced skipper who later tells me he was coxswain of his first boat in his teens !
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| The Bridge of RNLB Christopher Pearce with South Stack reflected - Prints available HERE |
Motoring down the A55 towards Holyhead having had to close the gallery early to catch the launch, there was once again brilliant sunshine and a cloudless sky (almost) and I'd heard the sea was calm too. Inwardly, I was disappointed as I really need as much atmosphere for these boat and seascape shots as my usual landscapes and somehow I was being offered perfectly unsuitable weather conditions, but there was that hint of a tint on the horizon! At Holyhead RNLI Station, the haze was now a bank over the sea but the sun remained brilliant on my face. I even considered just wearing my jeans and a light Goretex cagoule instead of the usual foul weather
Musto gear I have.
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| Me at work, in slightly overkill foul weather gear, warm though :-) |
I was there before the crew and I sat listening to
Ben Howard on the iPhone in the warm afternoon light. Almost at a call, crew were suddenly descending on the station, doors flung open, laughter and chatting everywhere, rib pulling, literally, the clinking of buckles of lifejackets, the flash of yellow all about me as foul weather gear was being donned. And there we were, suddenly aboard the Christopher Pearce and warps and warps and bowlines cast off.
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| International cruise liner from the flying bridge of Holyhead Lifeboat - Prints available HERE |
I finally got to meet the highly respected Brian Thomson MBE, high up on the Flying Bridge, towering above the marina. He was, well, just REALLY nice ! He was warm, affable, helpful, informative, chatty, beaming smiles, full of anecdotes and generally very welcoming. We gently powered out across the harbour to the utterly gigantic cruise ship on the Anglesey Aluminium jetty. I don't think I've ever seen a cruise liner up close and personal before but as Brian was honouring a request from some colleagues aboard, he hooted the horn of the Christopher Pearce and waved hard towards the top deck of this sky scraping hotel on water. Suddenly I could make out tiny ant like figures waving frantically back at us and mission was accomplished.
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| Coxswain Brian Thomson MBE waving to friends aboard the liner - for prints please ring gallery |
A flotilla of little sail boats scattered before us as Brian nosed the bow of our craft out past the lighthouse at the end of Holyhead Breakwater. A sailing yacht inched in non existent airs out of our slow path and as skippers acknowledged each other customarily, Brian 'blew' repeatedly from the bridge towards their sails much to their amusement, but it worked and they slipped out of our way to starboard. I didn't notice at first, so smooth being the engines, but I realised that North Stack was already on the nose and beautiful long ridges of perfect white wake were stretching out behind us.
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| A yacht inches away in windless airs from our advancing lifeboat - Prints available HERE |
We must have been flying across the bay but I'd not even noticed the noise or movement - awesome power indeed. My friend, the artist
Phillipa Jacobs is selling her Trinity House North Stack Fog Station studio home, perched on the stunning edge of Anglesey's most impressive cliffs, in spitting distance of South Stack lighthouse, and we laughed at the huge FOR SALE sign she had painted right across the seaward walls of her fantastic garden walls, along with her contact number !! Always resourceful and ballsy is our invincible Phillipa who has to drive he trust Land Rover in low ratio gears down a headland cliff path to reach her home. Any new buyer will also need balls of steel to make that journey every day. If she reduces the price somewhat though, to say £100K I'd definitely buy it !
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| Awesome North Stack cliffs and "Dream of White Horses" - Prints available HERE |
We were now under a heavy cloud blanket and the sun had simply faded away but nevertheless the evening light, no matter how poor, was still infinitely better at highlighting the fantastical geological features of these treacherous 131meter high cliffs. There are caves within caves and overhangs above overhangs, but I was literally captivated by the huge white faces of rock holding the famous climb,
"Dream of White Horses" which I myself have dreamed about on numerous occasions since my rock climbing days. I never did climb it, or indeed ANY of these amazing cliffs, but my brother Chris recently did "Dream…" in inclement weather and he said the exposure was palpable, and thrilled though he was to have finally done it, better weather may have made a less freaky experience. Coxswain Brian told me that they regularly have to rescue very grateful climbers from these cliffs. It doesn't surprise me.
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| South Stack approach, from the Flying Bridge - Prints available HERE |
We hugged the cliffs very slowly, visually absorbing every crack and crevice, every line and fold and then Brian said, I'll show you a feature many people will never see, and literally inched the bow of the Christopher Pearce towards the small island supporting the impressive South Stack Lighthouse. In the gloomy light it was still clear to see that a cave had broken through the small island itself, and you could see light coming in from the far side, but you can only see this when almost in the gully which separates the islet from mainland Holy Island. It would also be invisible from any small boat, but from up here, 20+ foot above the waterline, it was clearly visible, though not worthy of a photo in the evening's gloomy light. Another day and I will see what I can do ! :-) Watching Brian manoeuvre this tall powerful lifeboat amongst the rocks and cliffs with consummate ease made me realise just how boats and the sea are in these guys blood. He handled the boat as easily as pushing a pen around paper, vital for when the sea conditions erupt and the winds howl and day becomes night.
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| Coxswain Brian heads into the gully at South Stack - for prints please ring gallery |
As we rounded the point of South Stack we noticed a small Mersey Class Lifeboat heading towards us from Pwllheli and Brian was keen to say hello. We headed out at speed towards them and they were obviously under full throttle but Brian was hardly out of first gear. He opened up and skippers waved at each other before Brian did a complete circle of the Mersey Class and we were able to watch the RNLB Lilly and Vincent Anthony leap our wake before waving us goodbye and heading for harbour. We had an exercise to attend so headed back towards the cliffs on the South side of South Stack.
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| RNLB Mersey Class Lilly and Vincent Anthony heads for Holyhead - Prints available HERE |
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| RNLB Mersey Class Lilly and Vincent Anthony heads for Holyhead - Prints available HERE |
High on the cliff top near the
RSPB station at Elim's Tower, stood a bunch of lime green coastguard crew and below them stretched 300 foot ropes to the minuscule rock ledge just above sea level. Like tiny neon sand hoppers a succession of couples inched their way down the ropes alongside real rock climbers towards their waiting colleague below. From there, our RNLI crews were already found to be transferring the abseilers into the waiting RIBs before being transferred to the RNLB Christopher Pearce. This was the pattern for the next few hours. We just floated a short way from the cliffs whilst Coastguard teams did their descents and our RIBs did boat handling exercises and transfers.
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| Coastguard cliff rescue practice - Prints available HERE |
Sadly, the light was really dull, and textures and contrast in both the cliffs and the sea was entirely lacking, so I just focussed on a few portraits and documents of the exercises taking place and pretended I was a bird photographer by zooming in on the colonies of thousands (seemed like millions) of Guillemots, Razorbills and what I'm guessing were Kitiwakes with their rigid outstretched wings.
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| RNLI Crew transfer Coastguards to the awaiting Severn Class - for prints please ring gallery |
There was so much activity going on in this tiny cove that I think the birds were genuinely a little bit flustered but as the rock climbers topped out at Elim's Tower, and the last of the coastguards descended the cliffs and boarded our boat, a relative calm resumed as we glid out of the cove and back out around South Stack. From here, with a large crew and numerous new neon lime Coastguard guests aboard Brian was keen to get everyone back to base and opened the throttle.
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| Man overboard practice at South Stack - for prints please ring gallery |
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| Crewmember of RNLB Christopher Pearce at South Stack - for prints please ring gallery |
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| Crewmember of RNLB Christopher Pearce at South Stack - for prints please ring gallery |
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| Crewmember of RNLB Christopher Pearce at Nav Table - for prints please ring gallery |
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| Head Launcher & Press Officer Ray Steadman - for prints please ring gallery |
I was given permission to shoot from amidships right alongside the plumes of water from the bow waves as we raced past the now almost black cliffs beyond. The sky remained lighter over Anglesey compared with the dark weather fronts out at sea and the dusk light reflected off the high gloss panels of the RNLB Christopher Pearce. On this calm sea, even at this speed, the passage was ultra smooth and the weight of the boat meant that we never twitched or bounced off waves we simply cut through the water like a knife through margarine. We were in port with what seemed just a few minutes and it was truly dusk by then, with lights on the promenade lit and a tungsten glow from the
Holyhead Sailing Club Bar, which I really fancied checking out at that point !
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| RNLB Severn Class, Christopher Pearce heads home for Holyhead - Prints available HERE |
Work to be done though and the lads were busy hosing down and cleaning every inch of boat and gear and flushing out the inboard engines so that everything is ready for a callout at any moment. It's easy as the guest to forget that these exercises are not a laugh, though much fun seems to be shared, but a very serious and vital source of training for when there's a real 'shout' and these grown up games become critical professional skills which are all that counts between success or failure, life or death. In the meantime, Brian and I had a great and friendly chat about what opportunities there might be for my next set of boat shots and seascapes, and the Skerries Rocks and Lighthouse will feature heavily in what I hope will be some spectacular moments, weather and light depending :-)
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"Severn Tons of Wake" Irish Sea - Prints available HERE
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There is a full gallery of my RNLI images which is being constantly added to as this project progresses. Any images which sell from that gallery result in a donation of 5% being given to the RNLI to support their work. Click
HERE to go to the gallery.
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| Me shooting from low down on the gunwales to get the pic above |
Copyright © Glyn Davies 2012 - All Rights Reserved
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Web: www.glyndavies.com
Twitter: @photoglyn
