Crew: Owen Nutt

Owen's looking to the future - extract from Yarmouth Mercury Friday April 11th 2003

He may be one of the youngest members of Caister lifeboat service but he will be an experienced pair of hands when the station gets the Valentijn 2000 in a few year's time. Owen Nutt, 19, who works on Volvo car engines at a Great Yarmouth garage, will be a valuable member of the crew because the Dutch built craft runs on a Volvo engine.

Mr Nutt, an apprentice car mechanic, can't wait for the jet-powered lifeboat to arrive once the £800,000 appeal target is reached. "She is excellent. It is one of the only boats I have seen that can go sideways! "It will be much better because it cuts so much time off the response times," he said. Owen went to school in Caister and has been an apprentice at the Volvo garage in Southtown for four years while studying at Norwich City College. He said the engine of the Valentijn 2000 is almost exactly the same as a standard Volvo family car. The teenager lives close to the lifeboat shed with his father Michael, who is also a crew member, and mother who has been heavily involved with the fundraising effort. He started as a junior member at 16 and is now a fully-fledged member of the crew and training to be reserve tractor driver.

"I used to go there with my dad and grew up next to the lifeboat shed and joined when I was old enough," he said. "I want to learn to be the tractor driver and work my way up the crew." He had his first experience at sea when he was two-years-old and owns his own fishing boat. Despite having lessons to launch the lifeboat he prefers to be on the open waves. "I do enjoy driving the tractor but I would rather be on the boat," he said.