An RNLI volunteer at Newhaven has been awarded a long service medal marking twenty years with the charity.
Second Coxswain Lee Blacknell achieved the milestone with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in the summer of this year.
Phill Corsi, Area Lifesaving Manager, said:
"Lee Blacknell signed up to serve the lifeboat with a keen desire to help those in need on the water.
"Through his commitment to the role, in training and on service, Lee has gained enormous experience.
"He shares this with exceptional humility and generosity to the benefit of all the Newhaven team."
According to the RNLI, Lee’s twenty years of service have seen him join the launch crew on more than 415 shouts, for which he was Second Coxswain across the most recent twelve years.
Lee Blacknell said about his experience across more than 2,270 hours on the water:
"To be on a shout, in the middle of winter, in a howling gale and driving sleet, searching for a man overboard — when crew are seasick, wet and cold — and yet, after twelve hours of searching, our volunteers still want to stay out and find that person.
"It’s a powerful need to do the best you can.
"But rough weather, the rougher the better. That’s what I enjoy, it’s what keeps me thinking and enthused."
Lee said his approach to working the lifeboat is one of respect for weather and sea.
He remembers one challenging situation, a shout to a sailor no longer in command of his yacht, heading for the cliffs:
"We launched to a single handed sailor. His head had been struck by the boom. He was being blown onto a lee shore and was very close to Seaford Head in lumpy seas."
Lee helmed the lifeboat alongside and down sea of the yacht, in order to gently nudge the course of the vessel out to sea.
"That was easier said than done with eight metres of mast swaying like a joust at the flying bridge, but we managed to manoeuvre his course safely seaward."
At this point, two crew prepared to transfer to the casualty vessel, but one of them fell into the water. RNLI Eastbourne’s all-weather lifeboat launched, as well as a Coastguard helicopter.
The Newhaven crew member was safely recovered from the water and the transfer successfully executed. The sailor was winched up to the helicopter and the lifeboat towed the yacht back to harbour.
Lee added:
"It was a crazy shout. We must try and turn what mother nature throws at us to our advantage, not fight it."
Roger Cohen MBE, Lifeboat Operations Manager, said:
"This is a commendable milestone in our station’s history. Thank you Lee for your commitment and assisting the team in our endeavours to save lives at sea."
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