The tale of the bored bloke in the dinghy that BEagle refers to was true.
The chap concerned ('Scouse' Hughes) was dropped off in the Humber Estuary by the Bridlington Marine Craft Unit (it was a wee while ago) and was left to his own devices awaiting the arrival of the Leconfield Whirlwind.
After a wee while, Scouse 'felt' a coldness in his left foot. A wee while further, the coldness had reached his knee, then his thigh and was dangerously close to his 'manly bits'. Unbeknownst to Scouse, his immersion suit had a tear in the left foot.
Looking about him, and not seeing a helicoptor, Scouse decided to paddle to Spurn Head and let the Lifeboat crew and the Coastguard station know of his problems.
Although the Lifeboat and Coastguard centre were in plain sight, it turned out he had a 5 mile walk/wade through mud and ooze, pulling a dinghy, to get to them.
Once ashore and starting to walk/wade and pull, he spotted the Whirlwind chugging up and down the Estuary. His attempts to attract the attention of the searchers was to no avail.
After an hour of walking/wading/pulling he noticed that the Spurn Lifeboat had also decided to chug up and down the Estuary shortly joined by the Bridlington boat.
After a further hour, he managed to get to the Coastguard station where upon he was told to "Bugger Off" as they were busy co-ordinating a search for a missing airman.
During the subsequent interview 'without coffee' with the Flight Commander, it became apparent the Scouse had not been shown how to activate a training PLB nor had been provided with serviceable flares.
Red faces all around, especially for Scouse who developed a gem of a lobster red suntan thanks to his walking/wading/pulling and sweating like a pig efforts.
Last edited by taxydual; 20th Dec 2017 at 16:38.