Commitment To The Coast | Tom Kay

I’ve been in and around coastal communities most of my life, and have always been aware of the RNLI, the role they play and that volunteer ethos that goes back almost 200 years. So when I moved to St Agnes and started Finisterre, nearly 20 years ago now, joining the RNLI and being a volunteer member of the lifeboat crew here was something I’d always wanted to do, and this was the first chance I’d really had to do it. It felt like something that I could and should do; being where we are in the village and playing a part in this coastal community that has a need 24/7 – so it’s something I felt I really ought to do and am massively proud to be a part of.

Your pager can go off at any time, day or night, 365 days a year. It’s always with you, mine’s here on my desk right now. Whenever that pager goes off, you never know what you’re going to be going out to. So there’s always an adrenaline moment when you hear the pager alarm sound. As I’m going down the road to the station I’m thinking, “ok, what’s the swell like? What’s the wind like? What’s the sea conditions like?” mentally preparing myself for what I might be called out to do. Even after 20 years, that same emotion and feeling still exists for me.

I suppose when you get a shout over the winter, that’s always quite serious. Firstly, because it’s usually rougher and stormy, but also because you know that if someone’s in the water at that time of year the survival chances really diminish very quickly with the cold water. I guess one of the biggest shouts I’ve had was to a lady who had got stuck at Perranporth, trying to rescue her dogs. We luckily got there in time and she was ok, but we ended up having to rescue her dogs and the propellor hit the rocks and the engine broke, so we had to wade and swim the boat round to shore. It was really quite hairy, but everyone was saved and ended up all ok. That was in January around four in the afternoon on a pretty stormy winter's day, so it was quite an extreme shout actually.

Yeah, so the station down at Trevaunance has been a lifeboat station for over 50 years. We have a D-Class lifeboat, which is a tough 14ft rigid inflatable boat; 50 horsepower on the back, and you have 2 crew and one helm. On its day, it’s actually one of the roughest stations in the country because it’s a surf station. It’s just us and Bude which are officially surf stations. Any station can have surf, but there’s regularly big surf at St Agnes and Bude; it's these stations that face straight out into the full force of the Atlantic. It's not unusual to have have 6-8ft (2m) waves breaking over the boat. On these big days, as helm, you're trying to find the fastest and best route out.

Well, at Finisterre we to do collaborations with like-minded brands and charities where there’s a shared ethos. And I can’t really think of a better partner; with a shared love and respect for the sea that is deeply ingrained into both Finisterre and the RNLI.

For me personally, being a crewmember for over 20 years and now being a helm, that connection goes back a long way. There’s great common ground between the volunteer ethos and 200 years of history and heritage that the RNLI has, and the innovation and storytelling that Finisterre brings with our romance, sustainability and fabric knowledge. You bring those together in a range like we have done and it’s super exciting and something I’m immensely proud of.

“With courage, nothing is impossible” was the motto of the RNLI when it was founded by Sir William Hillary. There’s many stories that have been told and brought to life over those 200 years of history that really illustrate that; volunteers putting themselves at risk to save someone else who is in trouble in the sea. And that ethos still exists today as much as it did 200 years ago. You could even say it's a good motto for life in general!

I would say… commitment.

Because it’s a commitment to go out to sea. It’s commitment from your friends and family who are left behind. Commitment to leave the kid’s bath time, or whatever it is. Just commitment all round.