Full Training Guided By Your Assigned Mentor
All Watchkeepers take a competence test, but only when they feel ready. Watches always have 2 or 3 Watchkeepers, so Trainees can see many Watchkeepers at work.
FAQ’s
WHO CAN APPLY
Anyone over the age of 18 who:
Can climb our 3.5m entry ladder,
has sharp eyesight (with or without glasses/ lenses) ,
can concentrate for all 4 hours of your watch,
has a speaking voice which can be understood by others on the radio,
works happily as a team member.
Remember we provide all the skills training.
You will need to cover your cost of travel to the lookout Station and your uniform.
You need basic IT skills to book your watches online, plus your own email address.
Our watchkeepers provide cover 365 days a year, daylight hours.
No watch is longer than 4 hours. Summer watches are often 4 hours, winter ones are shorter.
Every watchkeeper must do 26 watches per year (one a fortnight) to keep up their skills.
People have breaks (holidays, visits etc) but are still expected to complete 26 watches a year. You may do more than 26 watches a year if you wish.
Whilst training we suggest you aim to do a watch weekly. Our analysis shows weekly watches whilst training is the main difference between trainees who go through quickly (e.g. three months) and those who don’t (six months+).
Booking watches is through an online system so there is choice when you volunteer.
We find it very had to cover watches cancelled at short notice and everyone avoids cancelling within the week of a watch. It does happen, but we work together to make this as rare as possible, We are all volunteers.
A watch has two or three Watchkeepers, one of which must be qualified.
The video link at the top of this page describes Watchkeeping very well.
There is no pressure to qualify. You take the competence test when you feel ready, and this is usually a minimum of 3 months.
Emergency incidents occur rarely. They usually begin with a radio alert or when a Watchkeeper sees something from the Station. If we think we have a potential incident we contact Solent Coastguard.
All watchkeepers are assigned a mentor who will be there to help if you need it. The manual is extensive and holds key knowledge which we all learn and then apply. Doing weekly watches helps get the knowledge into our brains and the practice makes all the difference. Every watchkeeper expects to help. We ask you to work with as many watchkeepers as possible right from the start.
You will be trained to spot problems, plot the incident on a chart, report to the Coastguard and support everyone in rescue situations. You will be trained to RYA Level in radio use. You will learn how to record the weather, log the boats and other craft passing our station, and understand how the tides affect different parts of The Needles and the bay.
Most training is undertaken at the lookout tower. However some offsite training might be needed and this is scheduled for evenings and/or weekends to suit the attendee group.
All Watchkeepers must continue updating their training. We run simulations and exercises to keep ourselves sharp and ready for action.