If you are interested in the history and development of RIBs then this book I can thoroughly recommend.
The RIB - the Rigid Hulled Inflatable Lifeboat by David Sutcliffe
It is only available directly from Atlantic College, Amazon do not sell it.
http://www.atlanticcollege.org/news-...vid-sutcliffe/
The story of the Atlantic
College rescue boats
David Sutcliffe’s book tells the story of the college’s
rescue boats and will
raise funds towards
scholarships.
In just three weeks two
Atlantic College Dutch
students built Psychedelic
Surfer, the rigid-hulled
inflatable that defied sceptics
to finish 19th in Britain’s first
ever Round Britain Powerboat
Race in 1969 and launched the
rigid-hulled inflatable into the
consciousness of the life-saving
community across the world.
With modern materials and technologies the original Atlantic boats
have been developed into sophisticated variations now used in their
hundreds of thousands worldwide by life-saving organisations, the
offshore energy industry, the military, the marine racing world and
the leisure market.
The opening speaker at the 2005 Conference of the Royal
Institution of Naval Architects commented that it was “probably
safe to say that the development of the RIB has been the most
significant design development in the small craft area over the past
50 years”; and David Stogdon, former RNLI Inspector of Lifeboats,
wrote in 1993: “Atlantic College started something which will affect
all lifeboat societies in time ... there was a wonderful spirit at the
college … It was largely this spirit which helped us develop the
inshore lifeboats round the British Isles.”
David Sutcliffe, a member of the college’s founding staff in 1962,
has now told their story in The RIB: the Rigid-Hulled Inflatable
Lifeboat and its Place of Birth - the Atlantic College. Profits will go
to the Atlantic College scholarship fund. The book can be ordered
at a pre-publication price of £25 (hardback) and £15 (paperback).
Postage and packing costs will apply.
For more information and to order please contact
vicky.phillips@atlanticcollege.org
Tel: +44(0)1446 799147 or go to
www.atlanticcollege.org
