At 15 years old, I was shipped off to Atlantic College in Wales, UK for my last 2 years of high school. Little did I know then how much of an impact that would have on my future. Atlantic College is an international school of about 300 students where high academic standards are expected and achieved…. (I barely scraped by). The typical day would involved school from 9:00-12:30 PM. The afternoons were spent doing rescue activities. The college ran a rescue service and there were 3 main divisions. Cliff rescue, Boat rescue and Beach rescue. I became heavily involved with beach rescue which would involve training in kayak rescues, swimming rescues and rescuing people stranded on beaches. The best part was surfing. The first step was developing skills to roll the kayak after capsize, as this is a necessary skill in huge waves of the Bristol Channel. Once mastered, surfing becomes exciting. When a wave is caught, the paddle is used to stay at the top of the wave. Just before the wave breaks, a few strong strokes along with the crushing power of the wave will cause the bow of the kayak to go straight towards the bottom of the ocean and then the bouyancy of the kayak will force the kayak to pop up into the air like a cork.
This is what the three of us were about to do when this photo was shot sometime in 1972. We were fearless. We were experts by the time our 2 years were finished and we have remained good friends through out the years. Arnaud lives in Sydney Australia, Auke lives in Amsterdam and I live in Toronto.
The current Rigid Inflatable Boats that are used today for recreation were invented at Atlantic College and used as Rescue Boats in the Bristol Channel. Here is the story of Atlantic College from their website.
UWC Atlantic is based in St Donat’s Castle, a 12th-century castle set in 122 acres of woodland and farmland, with its own valley and seafront. It became home to the American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst in 1925 after he saw a feature on it in the magazine, Country Life.
He spent a small fortune renovating the castle and hooking up not just the castle but the entire surrounding area to the electricity grid.
His lavish parties at the 60-hectare estate were legendary, with guests such as Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, future president John F Kennedy and playwright George Bernard Shaw attending. St Donat’s Castle was owned by Hearst from the mid-1920s until his death in 1951.
Atlantic College opens. Start of the original Inshore Lifeboats Service. Rear Admiral Desmond Hoare becomes the founding Principal.
The creation in 1962 of Atlantic College was Kurt Hahn’s final achievement in a lifetime of educational pioneering. His earlier initiatives had included Salem School in Germany, Gordonstoun School in Scotland, Outward Bound and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme.
The UWC movement was founded with the vision of bringing together young people whose experience was of the political conflict of the cold war era, offering an educational experience based on shared learning, collaboration and understanding so that the students would act as champions of peace. All members of the UWC movement remain committed to this goal today, but have expanded our reach to embrace the tensions and conflicts that exist within, as well as between, societies.
LORD LOUIS MOUNTBATTEN BECOMES PRESIDENT OF THE UWC MOVEMENT.
When becoming President of the UWC movement in 1967, Lord Louis Mountbatten was one of the most decorated and important diplomats and military figures of his time.
Of royal peerage, Mountbatten grew up in a prominent military family, his father having served as First Sea Lord of the British Navy during the early part of WWI. Seeing action during both WWI and WWII, Mountbatten rose through the ranks of the military and diplomatic worlds, eventually becoming First Sea Lord himself in 1954, and head of the British Armed Forces in 1959 as Chief of the Defence Staff. Upon retiring, Mountbatten devoted his life to international affairs and the avoidance of conflict, with UWC becoming one of his most prominent interests.
During his tenure as UWC President, Mountbatten grew the movement significantly around the world, including UWC South East Asia in Singapore in 1971 and the Lester B. Pearson UWC of the Pacific near Victoria, British Columbia, in 1974. In 1978, Mountbatten passed the UWC presidency onto his great-nephew, HRH Charles, Prince of Wales.
DAVID B. SUTCLIFFE BECOMES THE SECOND PRINCIPAL OF ATLANTIC COLLEGE.
Through his connection with Kurt Hahn, David was involved in the planning of Atlantic College before it opened in 1962 and became a member of the founding staff. He taught German (until 1972 the College prepared its students for British A-level exams) but that was only a small part of his life at the College. Under the leadership of Rear-Admiral Desmond Hoare, the inspirational first Headmaster, the College was actively developing sea-rescue services : David first led the Canoe Lifeguard Unit, initially separate from, but working with, the Beach Lifeguards before the two merged into the Surf Lifesaving Unit. He quickly became a very proficient surf canoeist and this determination continued when he took over from Hoare the Inshore Lifeboat Station, for many years the best- known feature of the College. He soon became a housemaster and then Director of Studies and took part in early discussions about an ambitious new curriculum which was to become the International Baccalaureate.
REAR-ADMIRAL DESMOND HOARE
The rigid hull inflatable boat (RIB) was developed in the 1960s by Rear-Admiral Desmond Hoare and the students of Atlantic College. The early RIB X craft were built and test-driven along the dramatic Bristol Channel coastline by Atlantic College students. Now known as the Atlantic Class, the design (which developed from the original ‘X Alpha’ prototype), revolutionised maritime rescue worldwide and became the model for RNLI inshore boats across Britain.
The RIB became the world’s most widely used craft for inshore rescue, and in 2017, it was awarded the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Engineering Heritage Award.
The Awards recognise irreplaceable artefacts to celebrate and raise public awareness for the vital role mechanical engineering plays in modern life.
45 years later
Sailing on the IJsselmer 2015
Met up with Arnaud in Australia in 2018 and went sailing on his 40 foot Jeanneau in Sydney
