Lester ON 1287 is the current ALB lifeboat stationed at Cromer

Cromer lifeboat station

Cromer Lifeboat Station is an RNLI station located in the town of Cromer in the English county of Norfolk. The station operates two lifeboats - one for inshore work and the other for offshore work....

 in the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 county of Norfolk. Cromer

Cromer

Cromer is a coastal town and civil parish in north Norfolk, England. The local government authority is North Norfolk District Council, whose headquarters is in Holt Road in the town. The town is situated 23 miles north of the county town, Norwich, and is 4 miles east of Sheringham...

 is the first lifeboat station on the east of England coast to receive the latest Tamar

Tamar class lifeboat

Tamar class lifeboats are all-weather lifeboats operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution around the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland...

 class all-weather lifeboat.The lifeboat became officially operational at 3:55 pm on the 6th January 2008. The lifeboat was officially christened Lester on Monday the 8th of September by HRH The Duke of Kent

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent

The Duke of Kent graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 29 July 1955 as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Scots Greys, the beginning of a military career that would last over 20 years. He was promoted to captain on 29 July 1961. The Duke of Kent saw service in Hong Kong from 1962–63...

. The lifeboats name Lester has been created by using parts of the surnames of Derek Clifton Lethern and William Foster, both of whom have been long-term supporters and members of the RNLI. Mr Lethern left £1.23m to the RNLI when he died in 1992 and asked for a new lifeboat to be bought in memory of him and his friend Mr Foster.

Design and construction

Lester ON 1287 is a Tamar class

Tamar class lifeboat

Tamar class lifeboats are all-weather lifeboats operated by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution around the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland...

 slipway launched lifeboat, designed to replace the Tyne-class

Tyne class lifeboat

Tyne class lifeboats were designed to serve the shores of the UK and Ireland as a part of the RNLI fleet. They are named after the River Tyne in north-east England....

 lifeboat. The Tamar class lifeboat is the most advanced vessel in the RNLI fleet. The Lester ON 1287 is loaded with new technology, including fly-by-wire joystick steering, suspension seats to protect crew in severe weather, and an onboard computer system called Systems and Information Management System or SIMS. SIMS allows complex tasks such as engine and navigation management to be displayed on a single flat LCD screen, six of which are positioned around the vessel, to allow crew to operate all the systems without moving from their seats. In the stern section of Lester ON 1287 there is a built in recessed chamber which house a small inflatable daughter boat. Access to the inflatable daughter boat is by means of lowering the transom, and lifting a section of deck. This allows the tender to be launched and recovered on to a ramp provided by the lowered transom section. On the Lester ON 1287 the Y class boat has the official number Y-207. The lifeboat's hull was manufactured at Green Marine in Lymington

Lymington

Lymington is a port on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It is to the east of the South East Dorset conurbation, and faces Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight which is connected to it by a car ferry, operated by Wightlink. The town...

, Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, and is constructed from Fibre reinforced plastic (FRP)

Fibre-reinforced plastic

Fibre-reinforced plastic is a composite material made of a polymer matrix reinforced with fibres. The fibres are usually fibreglass, carbon, or aramid, while the polymer is usually an epoxy, vinylester or polyester thermosetting plastic...

. The fitting out was completed at the yards of DML

Devonport Management Limited

DML was the company which owns and manages Devonport Royal Dockyard, the largest dockyard in Western Europe. DML was owned by Babcock International Group who purchased it from previous owners; KBR , Balfour Beatty and The Weir Group ....

 in Devonport

HMNB Devonport

Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...

, Plymouth

Plymouth

Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

, Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

. The lengthy process of fitting out involves all the main components being fitted into the vessel and secured to their mounting points. Once this has been done the component units are removed from the hull leaving the mounts in place and the interior is then painted. The lifeboat was built at a cost of £2.5 million and was launched on the 26th April 2007.

Lifeboat house modifications

Extensive work had to be carried out at the lifeboat station to upgrade the 38 meter pier end slipway to take the new- shaped vessel as well as alterations being carried out to the boathouse. The work on the station was carried out by the platform rig Haven Seaway between August and October 2007.

Career

After her launch the Lester ON 1287 underwent a long period of sea trials. Around 30 Cromer crewmen took part in these trials to familiarise themselves with their new lifeboat. On October 8, 2007 the lifeboat crew took part in a week of training aboard the new lifeboat at the RNLI Lifeboat college in Poole

Poole

Poole is a large coastal town and seaport in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester, and Bournemouth adjoins Poole to the east. The Borough of Poole was made a unitary authority in 1997, gaining administrative independence from Dorset County Council...

, Dorset

Dorset

Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...

. The lifeboat finally arrived at Cromer on the 9th December 2007 and was recovered, for the first time, up her new slipway in to the boathouse. and the vessel was officially operational from 6 January 2008.

First Service

Lester ON 1287 was launched on her first service on the 14th January 2008. She attended the car carrier MF The City of Sunderland which had gone aground in the early hours of the morning on the southern edge of Happisburgh Sands

Haisborough Sands

Haisborough Sands is a sandbank off the coast of Norfolk, England at Happisburgh. The shoal is long and wide and lies parallel to the North east coast of Norfolk. The shoal is marked to the north-west by north by the Haisbro Light Buoy, North cardinal...

. The car carrier had been on passage from Zeebrugge

Zeebrugge

Zeebrugge is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zeebrugge and a seafront resort with hotels, cafés, a marina and a beach.-Location:...

 to Tees Port near Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough

Middlesbrough is a large town situated on the south bank of the River Tees in north east England, that sits within the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire...

. When the Lester arrived at the scene, two tugs from Felixstowe

Felixstowe

Felixstowe is a seaside town on the North Sea coast of Suffolk, England. The town gives its name to the nearby Port of Felixstowe, which is the largest container port in the United Kingdom and is owned by Hutchinson Ports UK...

 were attempting to tow the vessel off the sands. Assisting with the operation the crew of the lifeboat kept a watchful eye on the situation and stood by while the vessel carried out essential checks to her steering and propulsion systems once she was re-floated. The Lifeboat finally left the scene at 23:50 and made her way back to the pier boathouse for recovery.

Service and rescues

Date	Casualty	Lives saved
2008
January 14	Car carrier The City of Sunderland had gone aground on the edge of Happisburgh Sands, stood by.
April 1	Yacht, carried out a search for vessel, stood down when vessel located by Wells lifeboat Wells-next-the-Sea Wells-next-the-Sea, known locally simply as Wells, is a town, civil parish and seaport situated on the North Norfolk coast in England.The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 2,451 in 1,205 households... .
April 29	Cable Laying Barge UR101 of Aberdeen Aberdeen Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of .... , take off an injured man.
May 10	Catamaran Catamaran A catamaran is a type of multihulled boat or ship consisting of two hulls, or vakas, joined by some structure, the most basic being a frame, formed of akas...  Leyla, rendered assistance.
June 29	Powerboat Powerboat A powerboat is another name for a motorboat. Powerboat may also refer to:* Powerboating* F1 Powerboat World Championship* Offshore powerboat racing...  Silverline with steering failure, towed into Lowestoft Lowestoft Lowestoft is a town in the English county of Suffolk. The town is on the North Sea coast and is the most easterly point of the United Kingdom. It is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and south-east of Norwich... .
July 11	Yacht Cloud Nine developed electrical failure, rendered assistance.
July 23	Car Ferry Pride of Bruges Pride of Bruges Pride of Bruges may refer to:* Pride of Bruges in service under this name 1988 – 1999 with P&O European Ferries* Pride of Bruges in service under this name 2003 – Present with P&O Ferries... reported sighting of life raft; after search concluded that there was no life raft.
July 30	Assisted in search for a missing person around Cromer Shore area. Daughter boat Y-207 launched from Lester to assist in search.
December 2	Car and passenger ferry Pride of Rotterdam MS Pride of Rotterdam ' is a Dutch registered passenger and cargo roll-on/roll-off ship, in service with P&O North Sea Ferries on the Hull - Rotterdam route.-Description:... reports a man overboard. Involved in search along with 6 other lifeboats, 2 Sea king Helicopters and coastguards for 7½ hours. No one found.
2009