About NCI Rame Head
NCI Rame Head is a volunteer National Coastwatch lookout on the Rame Peninsula, keeping a visual and radio watch over Plymouth Sound approaches, Whitsand Bay, and the busy coastal waters off south-east Cornwall.
What we do
Watchkeepers provide the eyes and ears along the coast — spotting distress flares, overturned craft, and people in difficulty that technology alone can miss — then alerting HM Coastguard so the right rescue assets can respond.
NCI is an entirely voluntary organisation keeping a visual watch along UK shores. High technology helps — but a computer cannot spot a distress flare, an overturned boat, or a person in the water.
Station history
- In February 1998 a meeting in Cawsand agreed to reopen the Old Coastguard Lookout as an NCI station.
- Mount Edgcumbe Estate provided the building; HMS Raleigh recruits renovated the interior.
- Watches began on 2 May 1998 with little more than a logbook and binoculars.
- After training and equipment build-up, the station was officially opened on 2 May 1999.
- Rame Head was among the early NCI stations and holds the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS).
NCI Rame Head — Old Coastguard Lookout, Rame Head, Cornwall.