Dressed in their shorts and cheese-cutter hats they look like a Sea Scout troup on the way to Sunday parade, and indeed their leader Captain Philip Pearce-Smith has been ridiculed as having ‘as much nautical knowledge as Captain Pugwash,’ by a tabloid newspaper.

But those who have been rescued by the Southampton-based League of Venturers know better and regularly describe their seamanship as ‘exemplary’.

The LV have just released their SAR statistics for 2006: 35 rescues, which included 10 grounded yachts, 14 boats with engine or rigging trouble, one collision, four capsized dinghies, three windsurfers and one canoeist.

To learn more about this redoubtable crew visit : www.venturers-search-and-rescue.org.uk