Story: Brynn Gericke, Richards Bay volunteer:
Station 19, Richards Bay hosted a joint exercise this weekend at our station. Port Edward, Shelly Beach and Durban started arriving on Friday the 18th May by sea and land with their various vessels and vehicles. The weekend kicked off with an icebreaker obstacle course on Friday night followed by handheld compass navigation.
Riaan vd Walt exiting the leopard crawl.
Weighted sit ups.
Andre Fletcher showing who's boss during the cargo net climb.
After breakfast on Saturday morning crew headed to our local beaches for some surf launch training with station 19’s Rotary Ann and Port Edwards Discovery Rescue Runner. At the same time crew were exposed to Shelly Beach’s 5m (Caltex Endeavor), Richards Bay’s 12m (Spirit of Richards Bay) and Durban’s 10m (Eikos Rescuer II).
The Discovery Rescue Runner in action.
Tammy Hodson from Richards Bay being taken through the surf by Gert from Port Edward.
William Mlambo from Durban getting ready for a pickup from Gert.
The idea was to expose crew to equipment other than their own to prepare them for all rescue situations and to allow for easy information sharing.
Skipper & Crew waiting for a break in the set before launching.
During the remainder of the day the crew were exposed to different scenarios:
1) A flipped boat with first aid injuries. Richards Bay’s first 4m (Peter Cox) was resurrected as the casualty vessel. The two ‘injured crew’ were brought to shore where they were attended to. Netcare also assisted in the exercise by explaining to the crew how a handover to medical personnel is approached as well as assessed our dealing with the injuries at hand.
Bringing the casualties to shore during the flipped boat scenario.
2) A 4×4 which was stuck in beach sand. We covered different ropes, cables etc which could be used to winch a casualty out as well as the safest manner in which to extricate the vehicle.
Hillegard wrapping a blanket around the tow line to limit the backlash should the cable break.
3) Towing of a disabled motor vessel due to fowled props.
4) A kite surfing injury. There is a lot to consider in this situation that crew would not realise unless they had been exposed to the sport ie: lines in the water, the correct direction to approach the casualty, the possibility of the kite taking off again putting the rescue crew in danger etc. The local Operational Response Service Seaport Division assisted us with their 7.8m Ballistic.
At this stage we broke for lunch and a debrief on the mornings activities. After lunch we prepared for the last exercise for the day:
5) Local yachtsman Kevin Mulligan loaned us his yacht Aquarius (to be skippered by crewman Jacques Kruger and manned entirely by NSRI crew) which for the exercise would have bilge problems requiring a tow into port as well as ‘injured’ crew on board. This exposed the crew to a sail vessel and all its goings on as well as how to raft up correctly.
Casualty yacht Aquarius being towed by The Spirit of Richards Bay.
The casualty is rafted up for easy maneuverability and putting alongside a quay.
The final scenario being watched by Operations Director Mark Hughes and Regional Director Eddie Noyens.
Once the exercise had been completed a final debriefing on the weekend took place followed by a social evening. Overall a lot was learned by old and new crew alike.
Pics: Brynn, Norman Rautenbach & Mike Patterson
Organiser: Richards Bay Deputy Station Commander Cornel du Toit
The volunteers who took part in the exercise.
Thank you to Richards Bay Station, You were an amazing host.
Now that looks like a lot of fun…!
Regional training is invaluable in the shearing of knowledge between different Station crews on the different types of Sea Rescue equipment we use.
Well done to All who attended the week end training, the weather was perfect! wet, cold and windy!
Well done to all who participated in the training. I’m sure many crewmen went home having learnt a thing or too. As Mark said, the weather was also played along…..25-30knts at sea with a 2-3m sea, perfect for setting up tow and towing a heavy yacht back to port!
was a brilliant towing exercise i really learnt a lot this weekend! was max fun too.
Thanks again to Dorian, Cornel and the rest of the Station 19 crew for hosting us over the weekend. The training didn’t stop for those of us that had to get Eikos Rescuer II back home to Durban on Sunday. Helming her in those big swells and a head on wind was an extreme test of concentration, but she performed admirably and we all got home safely. Thanks to my fellow crew and coxswains for an awesome time!
Great pictures and a great commentary, thanks Brynn.
Oh my gosh! how I miss all that!!!
Looks like you-all had some serious training, well done guys!
The Golden Mile was left untouched in your absence
As one on the training end, I found it to have been, very educating, busy, fun, friendly and more than that, there was always a hot cuppa or eat ready after the cold event. Thank You Brynn. And now this excellent write up. Rose was brilliant on the radio all the way through. Thanks to you too. Dinner….OUT OF THIS WORLD. It was so “LEKKER” Well done 19, I am proud to be part of your crew.
thanks to stn 19 and thanks to all the outher bases for the fun and a very big thanks to cornel for setting up all those awsome execises
Well done St19. Looks like i missed out on a awesome weekend. Would have much rather have been with you guys than stuck here in Liberville in Gabon. Great pics and i am sure everyone there had a fantastic time as always.
A very valuable week end’s training. Thank you to Stn 19. An outstanding effort from all your crew and helpers. You were super hosts, on and off the water.
Thanks everyone, you are welcome to return anytime. Thank-you Cornel and your team for arranging the weekend, and thank-you to the extended St19 team (our families) who assisted with the food so that we could partake in the weekends festivities.
Great action pics!Well done to all
Looks like fun – miss all of you