What Hazards exist in the Poole Bay area ?

The Poole LifeBoat Station covers an area from Christchurch head
back as far as Anvil Point and as far out to sea as required.
The Poole Station works in concert with neighbouring stations
at Mudeford and Swanage to provide cover for the area.

The map below shows the area of the Poole Bay and Harbour area
with local reference names and channels marked.

The highlighted hot spots identify areas with a high frequency of calls
for assistance. (best viewed with screen resolution of 1024x768)

Mud Flats near Giggers Island where Boats get stranded and Jet Ski's run into difficulties;

Mud Flats near "Big Flat" where Boats can get stranded and the Flats can catch Jet Skiers by surprise.

The North Channel area which attracts a very high volume of traffic, notably Jet Skis with collisions and other incidents.

Middle Ship Channel and Rum Row are popular for Yacht Racing and again general congestion in the area leads to collisions and other incidents.

Whitley Lake / BlackPool, which is very popular with Windsurfers, is another heavily congested area, particularly during the summer months. Here again collisions and incidents are a frequent occurence.

Stoney Island The Sand Banks are notorious at low water, stranding many unwary boat owners

The Sandbanks to Studland Chain Ferry. The high volume of traffic going through such a narrow area coupled with the movement of the ferry every 15 minutes sees a high concentration of collissions and equipment being fouled in the Chains as the ferry moves across the Harbour entrance.

Hook Sands and East Looe are notorious at low tide with numerous calls for assitance from stranded boats.

Training Bank, an area of Rocks close to the main Swash Channel.

Not shown on the map, being a little further along the coast, are the popular beaches and piers around Bournemouth and Boscombe that give rise to numerous calls for assistance each year, typical incidents include locating missing children and coming to the aid of midnight swimmers.
The RNLI work in partnership with the lifeguards and the "Beach Rescue" schemes on many of these incidents.

Also not shown directly on the map is an area a little further out in Poole Bay that is home to a number of ShipWrecks that are popular with Divers. "Missing / Overdue Diver" is another frequent call.

Finally, there are the incidents of mechanical failure, fouled props, capsizing, taking water on board and crew illness which can take you by surprise and happen almost anywhere !