Round Britain, RNLI fundraising mariner to visit IOM on Thursday 12th June

Mariner, Paul Churchley is due to visit Douglas on his epic 1600 mile, two month voyage around Britain.

With a mission statement of “To raise funds for the RNLI whilst demonstrating and promoting ‘Best Practice’ in sea safety” Paul aims to make as much money as possible for the RNLI’s ‘train one - save many’ campaign.

Paul is making the journey ‘solo’ in his small 21 foot ‘fishing boat’ and reckons he will have to refuel every 100 miles – with petrol! This is because Stargate, his Jeanneau Merry Fisher 625, is powered by an 115hp outboard motor.

Paul set out from Plymouth at the end of May and this will be his 7^th port of call in an estimated 20-26 stops. He plans to spend two days in Douglas, with the first day set aside for fund-raising activities, and he hopes as many people as possible will come down to see how he is getting on; and also to put some money in the RNLI coffers.

In addition to fund raising for the RNLI, Paul is acting as a voluntary ambassador for the RNLI’s new and unique MOB Guardian man overboard and vessel alerter system.

In a RNLI press release Sean Friday, RNLI Fishing Safety Coordinator, says,

‘We really appreciate Paul’s help as we are trying to talk to as many fishermen as we can as quickly as possible about the safety system as grants available to help with unit costs, are running out soon. We’d like to wish Paul the best of luck with his trip and with spreading the fishing safety message.”

The new MOB Guardian system, which has been developed by the RNLI for fishermen, gives an early alert to an emergency, helps reduce search time and provides the rescuers with an up to date position for the vessel. It means search and rescue agencies including RNLI volunteers don’t have to start a search with little or no information about the location of the casualty. If a single-handed fisherman falls over the side of their vessel the system will automatically alert Search and Rescue agencies and can also shut down the boats engine remotely. The fisherman wears a fob incorporating a panic button, so should a crewman become ill or caught in machinery, he can easily request help. It is confidential so location information about a particular vessel is not available publicly. Funding may be available to fisherman in the IOM and they should contact the local association or look for more information at www.mobguardian.com