A PORTHDINLLAEN crew member has completed a vital part of her crew training.

Sandy Neate from Nefyn, travelled to RNLI College in Poole, Dorset, to complete the charity’s Trainee Crew Court, which was funded by Lloyd’s Register Foundation.

A key part of the course is the sea survival element, which enables new volunteer crew to be trained in a variety of crucial subjects including how to ‘abandon ship’ with a 4m jump into water; team survival swimming and coping in a life raft in simulated darkness.

They also learn how to deal with fires aboard lifeboats; how to right a capsized inshore lifeboat and the importance of lifejackets.

Sandy’s training took place in the Sea Survival Centre at the charity’s college, which includes a 25-metre wave-generating survival tank, allowing trainees to experience first-hand some of the scenarios they may encounter at sea should they ever need to abandon their lifeboat.

Talking about the training, Sandy said: “I have always though what it would be like to be an RNLI crew member, but never lived close enough to the sea.

“When I moved to Nefyn it was the perfect opportunity to fulfill my ambition of being an RNLI crew member."

Read the full story in this week’s Arfon/Dwyfor edition of the Cambrian News