Praise for local men who helped save Poole fisherman’s life
Two local heroes have been recognised by a Dorset powerboat training school after they saved the life of a man in Poole in 2021.
Father and son, Peter and Ollie Whitehead were first on the scene when a fisherman got into difficulty as he climbed aboard his fishing boat at Holes Bay in Poole.
The pair found the man in the water between his boat and his tender that he used to row out from the shore. He had fallen, trying to climb between the two boats and had dislocated his right shoulder.
He ended up wedged between the two boats and almost fully submerged in water that was only about 13 degrees in temperature despite the time of the year. Their quick reactions after hearing the cry for help and their dedicated training set off a chain of events that ultimately saved his life.
Now, on the anniversary of that day, Noel Hutchinson, school principal at Get Lost Powerboat Training based out of Poole Harbour who trained the pair as part of their boat school, has recognised their skills and bravery.
‘What can you say about Peter and Ollie? We launched our training school to help people get out onto the water safely and with respect for the waters and other users around the area. We equip them with a lot of skills but the quick thinking, calmness and teamwork was all down to them.
‘I believe Oliie was only 14 at the time and he managed to drive the boat alongside so that Peter could help NAME. Thankfully, Peter had just done a VHF radio course with us the week before and was able to send off a near perfect Mayday radio call asking for help.
‘I was pretty close to them, (500m) taking another class on confined space turns and heard the call over my radio set as I was monitoring the safety channel, which is best practice.
‘Just as fortunately, one of the group of students just happened to be a consultant anesthetist and ultimately he was able to provide the correct intervention that made the difference to the man’s life as he was seriously hypothermic. It was a team effort from everyone that day and we wanted to mark it by officially recognising Peter and Ollie.’
Speaking about their experience and the recognition from Get Lost Powerboat Training, Peter and Ollie said;
‘It’s a bit of a shock to us to be recognised for this as we were just doing what anyone else would have done in our position. Thankfully, we had been trained for this rare situation and that helped us to keep relatively calm and work together to help this poor chap. It was far from just us that day though in terms of who made the difference. We were first on the scene but then there was a huge effort from a lot of other people, the consultant and the RNLI especially were incredible and it just comes down to a fantastic team effort.’
ENDS