About a dozen men show up at the north-east lifeboat station for training, preparing to practice for what they hope will never happen.
The station is seen as an institution in the town of Fraserburgh, and the men and women who take it upon themselves to save lives at sea are heroes.
For the crew, who split their time between full-time jobs and volunteering with the RNLI, life has become preparing for call-outs and raising the profile of the their station.
On the night they invite the Press and Journal to join them for a training exercise, the team are on the alert for worsening weather – with gale force winds and…. forecast.
The volunteers split into two teams, with one heading out on the Trent class lifeboat while the other honed their map reading skills.
For coxswain Victor Sutherland, following in his father’s footsteps and joining the RNLI was something he always wanted to do – but as he prepares to go out into the cold night, he admits he does not know why others sign up.
“I don’t know why anyone joins the lifeboat,” he said.
“No one is in this for the money. They have to give up their nights and weekends to provide a service for nothing more than a ‘thanks’ from someone they might help.”
The father-of-two was in oil before he joined the charity full-time, and his experiences at sea continue to serve him well.
He said: “People from all backgrounds come to join.
“We have fishermen with their own boats, joiners – a real mix. Some have family history here, like me, and they’ve always wanted to be on the lifeboat.
“I remember from about the age of six and my dad getting phone calls to tell him to get on the lifeboat, and then his pager
buzzing. I’ve always wanted to be here, and I’ve been coxswain now for 11 years.”
That night, he guided his trainees through the maths needed to calculate where their boat is and where it is going in a matter of minutes – just in time for the Willie and May Gall to thunder back into the harbour for his turn at the helm.
And while they joke as they squeeze into their waterproofs, the reality of the situation hits home as the crackle of the station’s radios breaks in.
The radios flickered to life every few minutes with updates from the coastguard as the Aberdeen lifeboat were out assisting in the search for a missing person in the city.
It was a reminder that life at sea is unpredictable, and why there continues to be a need for the lifeboat, Mr Sutherland – who has been rescued by the lifeboat himself – explained.
“It was a bizarre situation being on the other side of it,” he recalled.
“The boat I was travelling on ran aground. You never think it’ll happen to you, but you never know what will happen at sea.”
It is also why the crew prepares for every scenario.
As well as learning to anchor the vessel in Fraserburgh Bay, Mr Sutherland had the men rig up a manual rudder to experience what would happen if the boat lost power to its steering.
With a system of ropes connected to the rudder, two men moved the lifeboat by listening out for shouts from the helmsman.
“I can’t believe how the old dogs used to do it,” AJ Morgan, a volunteer, shouted over as sea spray covered the deck.
Man overboard drills were carried out in a similar vein.
A buoy was flung off the side of the boat and the crew – still using the emergency steering procedure – swung the vessel around at speeds of up to 25 knots to fish it back out of the depths.
After four hours of drills, map reading and companionship, another training session was over.
“We’re lucky here,” Mr Sutherland said afterwards.
“We wouldn’t be able to do any of the things we do without the support of the community.
“In Fraserburgh, the help they give us is amazing. It lets us get the best feeling in the world – helping someone else who is in trouble.”
To support the RNLI, or to get involved, call Fraserburgh Lifeboat Station on 01346 515162.
