Beez Neez now Chy Whella

Looe Bimble

Big Bear and Pepe Millard

Fri 13 Jul 2018 22:27

A Bimble about in Looe, Cornwall with The Scotties

This morning we started a tiny tour of Cornwall with Looe. After parking we bimbled over the bridge, too in the typical scenery and headed toward the beach.

We passed the War Memorial, and on the High Street – Pepe’s Tex-Mex Kitchen and Chris took in the variety of pasties in the window of ‘Official Winners of the 2017 World Pasty Championships......

........and what a selection, aroma divine.

The lovely little 15th Century Museum.

The Finbaker Cannon: This gun was “fished” out of Looe Bay during the last century. It is believed to have belonged to a Seventeenth Century Swedish warship. Finbaker (pronounced Finbacker) was the name of a popular type of cannon of the period. For many years the gun was used, upended, as a bollard on the old quay. Before that it was thought that it was one of the six guns which stood on the seafront during the Napoleonic wars to scare off the French.

The barrel weighs half a ton. The carriage is modern, built by a local craftsman, George Whitehead, to an old design researched by local historian, Bernie Doyle, who built the model of “The George” in the museum.

Nice to see that despite being off-season, there were quite a few on the sandy beach.

We went round the corner, passing The Old Lifeboat Station to the current Station where we saw amazing facts and figures of the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution).

On the wall was a poster showing all the different classes of rescue craft and the impressive Tamar Class taking a big wave.

The costs of running this important service are huge, the Tamar Class above costing two and a half million pounds to build and kit out.

To the left as we entered was this pairing, a small working girl and her steed.

‘D’ Class Inflatable Lifeboat. D 741 ‘Ollie Naismith’ entered service November 2010. An inflatable lifeboat first developed at the RNLI Inshore Centre in 1963, the class has continually evolved. Powered by a single 50hp immersion-proof engine it has a maximum speed of 25 knots with a duration of 3 hours. It carries a crew of 2 or 3, with a survivor capacity of 5.

Length: 5m. Beam: 2m. Displacement: 400kg. Construction: Hypalon-coated polyester. Sponsons have 7 compartments.

Equipment includes VHF radio, night vision equipment, satellite navigation, oars, kedge anchor & towing lines, stopwatch & binoculars, first-aid and oxygen kit, spare life-jackets, stretcher & casualty protection gear, spare propeller, radio mast, flares, fire extinguisher, torch, knives &tools.

Replacement cost £41,000.

‘Ollie Naismith’ in action.

On the right of the Station, an impressive steed called Sheila and Dennis Tongue II, an Atlantic 85 ‘B’ Class Inshore Lifeboat. In service at Looe Lifeboat Station since September 2016. A rigid inflatable lifeboat developed at the RNLI Inshore Centre at Cowes in 2005. Powered by twin 115hp 4-stroke immersion-proof engines it has a maximum speed of 35 knots with a duration of 2.5 hours (fuel capacity 210 litres). It carries a crew of four seated by the central console. Equipment includes VHF radio, GRP chart plotter, first-aid and oxygen kit.

Length:8.44. Beam: 2.85m. Draught: 0.53m. Displacement: 1.8 tonnes.

Construction: Hull – carbon fibre and foam core laminate, structure includes epoxy glass and foam sandwich layup. Inflatable collar – hypalon-coated nylon. Survivor capacity: 20.

Replacement cost £214,000.

We wandered to the rear of the Station and the Sheila and Dennis Tongue II on the wall was a picture of this incredible craft in action.

At the back, an even more incredible beast.

Talus MB-4H Tractor. Jointly developed by RNLI & Clayton Engineering Ltd, of Knighton, Powys. First tractor on station in 1990 (New Brighton).

Can be safely operated to a depth of 1.6m in level sea conditions. Weight: 9.38 tonnes. Propulsion: 4 wheel drive. Engine: Caterpillar 3114, 4 cylinder, 105hp- Diesel Turbo. Max. Speed: 22mph. Winch Wire Pull: 5 tonnes.

In the event of the machine getting into difficulties it can be battened down and left on the sea bed and recovered at low tide. The cab is specially designed to fully flood in order to provide stability, when submerged

Cost £250,000.