INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY: Navigator Louise plots historic new course for Buckie RNLI lifeboat
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BUCKIE RNLI lifeboat station celebrated International Women's Day in style when the volunteer crew welcomed its first female navigator.
Plotting a new course for Buckie's Severn class lifeboat William Bannin is crew-member Louise Cooper, who has made history after becoming the first woman in the station’s 162-year history to qualify for the role.
Louise joined Buckie lifeboat as a volunteer trainee in 2019 and in common with many modern RNLI crew volunteers she had no previous sea-going experience.
However, thanks to the RNLI’s training system – and the support of her instructors and colleagues – she has been able to make rapid progress.
The ultimate credit, however, must go to Louise herself for sheer commitment and for endless hours of study and practice.
Before starting her navigator training, she had already achieved competence in deck-work, manning, operating daughter craft and salvage pumps, and had qualified in casualty care. For her navigator qualification, Louise learned and demonstrated high standards of skill using charts, radar, AIS, GPS, buoyage, passage planning, search patterns and knowledge of local waters.
Dedication and talent saw her complete the work in six months.
Louise said: “The RNLI’s training system is extraordinary – before joining the crew I had no experience with boats.
"However, over the four years, I’ve been gaining knowledge, competence and confidence. I’m so proud to be the first woman to qualify as a navigator at the station, but I owe a lot to expert teachers and patient crewmates.”
Commitment and hard work were very much the order of the day for Louise as she embarked upon the road that would eventually see her qualify as a navigator, one of the highest-pressure roles on a lifeboat.
"I'm a bit of a nerd for learning and I first got interested in the navigation side of things by watching how the navigators on the crew worked," she continued.
"I ended up with a choice of either going down the mechanical route or the navigation one and I chose navigation as I thought it'd be more interesting for me.
"The training was pretty much all done in Buckie and I started off with one of the coxswains doing basic chart work. There was an assessor came through to our Thursday evening training sessions to put me through my paces. These sessions could be quite long and demanding and there were online courses and homework on top of that.
"My favourite part of the training had to be the chart work – I loved doing things like latitudes, longitudes, true bearings and things like that. As for the most challenging, that has to be search patterns. The Coastguard gives you the last known location of a casualty and you have to work out a pattern for the lifeboat to follow to try and find them.
"The navigator is the most stressful seat on the boat, everyone wants a piece of you when you're on a shout [call-out]."
Louise's inspiration for joining the crew came about quite by accident, as she explained: "When I moved up here from Birmingham five years ago I was going to view a house and had to drive past the lifeboat station on my way there. I saw the lifeboat and was just in such awe of it.
"I wanted to be a crewmember and about six months after buying the house I phoned up the lifeboat station and asked them how to go about getting recruited.
"I'd definitely recommend joining the crew to anyone. If a Birmingham city girl with no previous maritime experience can do it, then anyone can!"
Commitment and hard work were very much the order of the day for Louise as she embarked upon the road that would eventually see her qualify as a navigator, one of the highest-pressure roles on a lifeboat.
"I'm a bit of a nerd for learning and I first got interested in the navigation side of things by watching how the navigators on the crew worked," she continued.
"I ended up with a choice of either going down the mechanical route or the navigation one and I chose navigation as I thought it'd be more interesting for me.
"The training was pretty much all done in Buckie and I started off with one of the coxswains doing basic chart work. There was an assessor came through to our Thursday evening training sessions to put me through my paces. These sessions could be quite long and demanding and there were online courses and homework on top of that.
"My favourite part of the training had to be the chart work – I loved doing things like latitudes, longitudes, true bearings and things like that. As for the most challenging, that has to be search patterns. The Coastguard gives you the last know location of a casualty and you have to work out a pattern for the lifeboat to follow to try and find them.
"The navigator is the most stressful seat on the boat, everyone wants a piece of you when you're on a shout [call-out]."
Louise's inspiration for joining the crew came about quite by accident, as she explained: "When I moved up here from Birmingham five years ago I was going to view a house and had to drive past the lifeboat station on my way there. I saw the lifeboat and was just in such awe of it.
"I wanted to be a crewmember and about six months after buying the house I phoned up the lifeboat station and asked them how to go about getting recruited.
"I'd definitely recommend joining the crew to anyone. If a Birmingham city girl with no previous maritime experience can do it, then anyone can!"
Davie Grant, coxswain of Buckie lifeboat, commented: “Louise deserves huge credit and respect for the hard work she has put into achieving her navigator’s qualification.
"In her time on the station, Louise has become a respected, trusted and popular member of the crew.”
To find out more about the roles available with the volunteer crew, and how to join, visit Buckie RNLI's Facebook page. The team at Buckie RNLI are also keen to hear from people who would be willing to spare some time helping out the shore-based fundraising team.
Buckie RNLI are finalists in the Moray and Banffshire Heroes Awards Emergency Services Hero of the Year category, along with HM Coastguard. To vote in this and the other categories up for grabs, visit www.hnmedia.co.uk/morayheroes/
The vote closes on March 26.
