It's Sink Or Swim for Arbroath RNLI's Year of the Light fund-raiser
The crew of the Arbroath lifeboat are to swim the 22 miles from the harbour to the Bell Rock lighthouse and back to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Robert Stevenson's masterpiece.
Breakwater spills over at Arbroath lifeboat shed.
- By Graeme Strachan
- Published in the Courier : 13.01.11
- Published online : 16.01.11 @ 03.55pm
This is the Year of the Light, the celebration of one of the world's greatest feats of engineering, the Bell Rock Lighthouse.
The swim is one of two events being launched by the ladies of the Arbroath RNLI Guild and the crew of the Arbroath lifeboat to mark the RNLI's national SOS Day.
On January 28, a Sell Our Stuff evening is being held in the Meadowbank Inn.
The event will be an auction with professional auctioneers from Curr & Dewar in Dundee selling a wide range of lots.
Potential bidders can browse the 'stuff' while sipping a glass of wine.
Tickets, priced £3, are available from any member of the guild.
January 30 will see the crew members donning their costumes for a Sink Or Swim fund-raiser at the Arbroath High School leisure centre.
Double number of rescues
February 1 marks the 200th anniversary of the first light from the Bell Rock Lighthouse warning passing vessels of the treacherous 'Inchcape' reef lurking beneath the waves.
The lighthouse, designed by Robert Stevenson, is 11 miles away from the safety of the Arbroath Harbour.
To celebrate the Year of the Light, the lifeboat crew are being sponsored to swim the distance there and back.
The 22 miles will be swam in relay in the local swimming pool.
Guild spokeswoman Susan Ruark joked, "We can only hope that the pool is warmer and calmer than the North Sea."
The number of launches made by Arbroath lifeboat last summer was more than double that of 2009.
There were 430 launches made by Scottish lifeboats in June, July and August — almost identical to the 431 launches in summer 2009.
However, in Arbroath, volunteers went from making just 10 rescues in 2009 to 22 last year.
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