IT'S a simple but heartfelt handshake that said Thank you for saving us'. It was an acknowledgement to lifeboat coxswain Joe Millar he had potentially been the difference between life and death.

And, with summer fast approaching, Joe is all too aware he and his lifeboat colleagues will see much more action off the Firth of Clyde coast in the coming weeks.

But although he has been the recipient of such gratitude before, Joe is nevertheless grateful.

For he knows all too well that rescuing victims off Troon is better than recovering bodies, That message was hammered home starkly in December when his crew was called to the tug the Flying Phantom, which sank in the River Clyde, killing three men.

The handshake occurred just over a year ago, when, not long after dawn, a fishing vessel, the Mouina, ran aground off the Ayrshire coast.

The Troon RNLI lifeboat was called out, as was the Coastguard. After three hours, the boat was escorted to safety.

On shore, crew member Johnny Anguige and skipper David Magee shook the 39-year-old Troon coxswain's hand and another successful rescue was complete.

But with hundreds of sailors and tens of thousands more holidaymakers heading for the coast over the coming weeks and months, there will be countless more dramas ahead for the RNLI team.

Everything from kids on lilos being blown out to sea, to crew falling overboard will challenge the nerve and skills of the lifeboat men and women.

Last year, Troon's two lifeboats - the all-weather Jim Moffat, which has seen active service since February 2004, and a newer, inshore boat, called Telford Shopping Centre - were launched 50 times and rescued 41 grateful people.

In 2006 there were 52 launches and 70 rescues.

In 2005, there were 78 launches.

"We were the busiest RNLI station in Scotland in 2005, the second-busiest in 2006 and the fifth-busiest last year," says Joe, a full-timer for seven years.

The call-outs, which can happen any time of the day or night, are partly because increasing numbers of people are using the water for leisure pursuits.

"For a start, more and more of the public are taking up hobbies and sports in and around this area," he says.

"Much of the time, the problems are due to bad misfortune on their part. If there is an easterly wind direction at Troon, that is an offshore wind, so if you get kids on lilos, the only place they are going is Ireland."

Troon RNLI has helped rescue wreck divers who had failed to rendezvous with their boat. In November 2001, it helped a fishing vessel deal with an unexploded bomb.

Just before Christmas last year, Troon RNLI was one of many rescue crews called out after the Flying Phantom capsized in freezing waters opposite Clydebank College. Of the tug's four crew, only one survived.

"Both lifeboats were needed because of that incident," says Joe.

"Our inshore lifeboat went by road up to the river and I went out on our big lifeboat as standby at Largs."

There has been an RNLI lifeboat station at Troon since 1871. The first lifeboat was a 32ft rowing boat and the new boathouse cost £250.

The current crew - five are women- are all volunteers. Together with the shore-helpers, who launch the boats, there is a pool of 30 people.

Framed letters of thanks bear testimony to the dedication and bravery of the crews over the years.

In 1980 a letter was awarded to member Roy Trewern for rescuing two stranded people. That same year, Ian Johnson - Joe's predecessor as coxswain - received an RNLI silver medal for rescuing five people from a dredger during a storm.

Another letter, in 1992, commemorated the crew's rescue of four people from a yacht. In 2002, Ian was nominated for the inaugural Robert Burns award for humanitarian endeavour.

To the crews, all of them volunteers, such things are the only thanks they need. They know they can risk their lives when helping others, but their rigorous training minimises such risks.

It's why Joe has never felt fear on a mission. "I'm more than confident with the training the RNLI provides us, and with the boats and the equipment," says Ian.

Ask him how many people he has rescued, and he is hard-pressed to remember an exact figure, simply because he has been doing this for such a long time.

What he does say is that, when someone is rescued, it makes him glad he opted, all those years ago, to become a lifeboat man. "Definitely ... that is when it becomes really rewarding.

"I joined the RNLI in 1991.

I fancied doing something for the community in Troon, so I joined as a volunteer. The training was very intense." He became full-time in 2002.

Not every call-out leads to a rescue. "There was one a few years ago," Joe says, "a suspected vessel sinking, with people on a liferaft.

"When we launched and got down to the Heads of Ayr, it turned out to be an inflatable castle ..." He smiles as he adds: "From the landward side, it must have seemed like a liferaft."

He says he loves his job. "I'm doing something really worthwhile, and obviously helping people as well. Most of the time, it's a very satisfying job. And we've had a more than a few nice letters from people we've helped.

"We also do a lot of talks in schools and at in clubs."

Many people, he says, are surprised to learn the RNLI receives not one penny from the Government. It relies on legacies and voluntary contributions for its income - six out of ten RNLI launches are only possible thanks to gifts in wills.

Has the job left any impact on him? He says: "I think I am more helpful, more inclined to volunteer my services more quickly. I am also more understanding that accidents can happen."

The RNLI will be in Joe's blood forever, even after he finally retires.

"I'll be here for the full duration. The retirement age used to be 45 for the inshore lifeboat and 55 in the all-weather lifeboat, but things have changed since they brought in the Age Discrimination Act. You can stay on, on a yearly medical basis.

"I would like to stay on for as long as I can, but obviously there will come a time when I have to let the younger teams take over."

His own family life is flexible. It has to be.

"My partner Sarah and I had a baby girl on Christmas Day last year. Eve was born nine weeks early.

"Because I'm on call all the time, my partner does a lot of the looking after of Eve. I cannot watch the baby on my own because there needs to be somebody to take over if I am called out."

When he goes on holiday, does he fret about missing call-outs?

"I used to, when I was first full-time, but not now. It's nice to get away from pagers and telephones and boats."

The most recent call-out was at the weekend, when a kite-surfer became adrift from his kite. It was blown out to sea, and a member of the public, fearing the man might be trapped under it, contacted Troon.

The surfer was found safe. But the next call-out might be a genuine SOS.