St John keen to keep Flying Christine going
WAYS of extending the operating life of the ambulance launch Flying Christine III are being investigated by the St John Ambulance and Rescue Service.
The boat returned to station recently after being out of the water since January following a mechanical problem with its gearbox.
It was getting the parts to repair this that led to the delay, said SJARS operations lead Stuart Malley.
‘It’s manufactured in the UK, but they have to order the parts from the USA, and the lead time for that is about 45 days,’ he said.
Flying Christine III was launched in 1994 following a fundraising campaign that saw donations from the public as well as private sponsorship.
Its design life was 30 years, but Mr Malley said the service had taken advice from engineers and believe it could be extended by perhaps another 15.
‘Generally it’s a very seaworthy and well-built vessel, and there’s a desire to extend its life as long as is possible. We’re exploring the options available to us.’
One option would be to have a ready-made gearbox on-hand in the event that there were any problems in future. Mr Malley said he believed this could cost about £20,000 and had been told that it could take over a year to source all the parts and manufacture it.
The boat is owned by the St John charity and is operated by expert volunteers and crewed by paramedic-led medical teams from the ambulance service.
During its absence from local waters its place was taken by the RNLI St Peter Port lifeboat, the Brecqhou Chief, Access Challenger and the pilot boat.
There were 31 call-outs in that time – 21 to Sark, eight to Herm and two to visiting cruise ships.
Of those, 24 were attended by the lifeboat and these were for the most urgent, category one or two, medical emergencies.
Brecqhou Chief attended four calls, Access Challenger two and the pilot boat, one, for less urgent cases.
Mr Malley thanked the stand-by boats and their crews for their efforts.
‘They have responded to emergencies around the clock, leaving their jobs and their families, often in the middle of the night to assist us,’ he said.
‘I would also like to thank the volunteers who crew of the Flying Christine, that have given many additional hours working behind the scenes to prepare the vessel for a return to duty.’
SJARS chief officer Mark Mapp added his thanks to the crews who had helped out, as well as to St Peter Port lifeboat management and other boat owners for their support and assistance.
