CAPTAIN GARY JOINS LIFEBOAT CREW OUT ON THE FIRTH

Photo: (left to right) ESRA crew member Neil Ackroyd, Gary Bethune, and Deputy helm David Sutherland

ROYAL Dornoch captain Gary Bethune swapped the fairways for the Firth to join the East Sutherland Rescue Association crew on an exercise.

Every year, the privately funded lifeboat charity faces a £35,000 fundraising challenge.

And ESRA will be one of the beneficiaries of the Captains’ Charity Fund after being selected by Gary and Rosemary Mushcamp, the club’s Lady Captain.

“Rosemary and I agreed that ESRA would be a great charity to benefit along with Mikey’s Line during our time in office,” explained Gary.

“This vital local service doesn’t come under the RNLI umbrella and operates without any government funding.

“We felt it was a no-brainer for the club to give this wonderful charity our backing.

“I was delighted to be invited to take part in one of the crew’s recent training exercises on the Dornoch Firth and luckily for me it was like a mill pond. It’s not always like that in this part of the world!

“Some of the crew had been called out in the middle of the night so they hadn’t had much sleep – but they looked after us Royally.”

After a safety briefing at Portmahomack harbour by deputy helm David Sutherland and crew member Neil Ackroyd, Gary was given an opportunity to get hands-on with the powerful eight-metre, twin-engine Wildland.

“We were out for 45 minutes and passed the lighthouse at Tarbat Ness on the exercise,” Gary explained.

“It came as a real surprise when David invited me to swap seats and take control. But boys and their toys and all that, I was thrilled to get the chance with the experts on hand.

“It’s capable of 40 knots – 50mph – but I certainly wasn’t going to push it.

“We cruised back up the Firth, carefully avoiding the lobster creels on the way back into the harbour.

“I have the utmost respect for the work these volunteers do. They can be out in all weather and it’s a vital community service.

“Hopefully our generous members we will have generated a nice cheque for ESRA at the end of the golf season.”

Helmsman Antony Hope (60), a former banker who runs the Dornoch Bookshop with his wife Maggie, was delighted to hear that the captains had selected ESRA and Mikey’s Line as their chosen charities.

“We are one of around 50 independent lifeboats around the UK and are inspected annually by the Coastguards,” said the lead helm and charity chair, who joined the crew 12 years ago.

“We rely completely on fundraising to provide the service and we are busier than ever because of the rise in tourism since the 1980s, receiving mobile phone alerts from the Coastguard.

“Recently the paddleboard craze has prompted emergency responses. We picked up a mother and her young daughter well offshore. They were wearing only swimsuits, and you can imagine how cold the North Sea can be at any time of year.

“We have towed fishing boats and yachts, and years ago responded to a crashed fighter jet.

“We are there for anyone who finds themselves in difficulty at sea or on lochs and waterways in Sutherland.”

ESRA was founded in 1982 and handles around 15 call outs every year, with a minimum of six crew members covering 70 miles of coastline between Balintore and Helmsdale.

The nearest RNLI boats are at Invergordon and Wick.

The former boatshed by the beach – converted changing rooms – were replaced a few years ago with a modern £500,000 unit for ESRA’s two boats near the 16th green on the Championship Course.

“It can be a struggle raising the money to maintain this lifeline and our boats. A tank of fuel costs around £500 nowadays, and you can go through that in four or five hours at sea,” said club member Antony.

“With fuel prices soaring, the support from Royal Dornoch is particularly well-timed.”