The Appeal

Looe Lifeboat Station was re-established by the RNLI in 1992 after a break of 62 years since the former station closed in 1930.

The current D-Class Inshore Lifeboat Ollie Naismith went on service in Looe in 2010 and was named after a popular local teenager Ollie Naismith who tragically died in a road traffic accident in 2009.  Ollie's parents, Maxine and John Naismith spearheaded a fundraising campaign for the lifeboat, which has gone on to save many lives, including the life of Louis Webber, a local lad who was of a similar age to Ollie.

The current D-class lifeboat is now coming to the end of its operational life, so Looe Lifeboat station are teaming up with the Naismith and Webber families to launch the Looe Lifeboat Appeal with the aim of raising the £78,000 required to provide a replacement lifeboat, which will be named the Ollie Naismith II.

My Story

I’m Nick Pope, a native of West Looe and a former helmsman/training coordinator of Looe Lifeboats from establishment in 1992 until mandatory retirement in 2012 at age 50. Since then I have been one of the station’s Deputy Launching Authorities (DLAs). Therefore I have a long association with Looe Lifeboat Station and all of its boats since the present station was established.

Outside of life-boating, I have had a life-long passion for sports and outdoor activities including hillwalking and mountaineering, kayaking, scuba diving, cycling and running. Now, at the age of 59 I’m still trying to keep fit, so that I can hopefully keep going for several more years yet!

The Challenge

To help raise additional funds for the Ollie Naismith II I will be doing a sponsored run.  However, this will be no ordinary sponsored run: 
It will be a coast-to-coast run across Cornwall from Boscastle on the
north shore to Looe on the south, broadly following the route known as The Smuggler’s Way. The route is almost 60km long and traverses Bodmin Moor, including it’s highest points at the summits of Rough Tor and Brown Willy. The route follows a mixture of minor lanes, tracks, bridleways and footpaths, but some parts are undefined over open moorland.

To add further challenge, and to embrace the skills, training and dedication of all RNLI crews, who will turn out 24/7/365 and in
all weathers, I will run the route in the depths of winter, at night, alone,
and unsupported (meaning no external assistance from other people from start to finish). 

The plan is to dip a toe in the sea at Boscastle at around 10pm on Friday 17^th December 2021 and run overnight to arrive at Looe Lifeboat station at some point on Saturday morning.  I will record my progress using a GPS-enabled sports watch and will hopefully also have live tracking on the night, so you can all see how I’m getting on.

In the meantime you can follow my training and other
activities on Strava: