Support for Sea Rescue seems to pop up at some unexpected and unlikely places. There two golf clubs in the picturesque little town of Pennington on the KZN South Coast. Last weekend the Selbourne and Umdoni Golf clubs hosted a two-day golf competition.Station 20 Station Commander, Pieter Coetzee, on Friday received a telephone call out of the blue from a member of Station 5 in Durban asking for someone to attend the prize-giving on Saturday evening.All the Sea Rescue signage had been provided by Station 5 – tear drop flags and a wall of pictures - but someone was needed at the Umdoni Golf Club to collect a donation from the raffle during the prize-giving ceremony.“We have a principle on our base that when we get invited to a function or asked to do a sea rescue talk somewhere, we go. It is not a debate. We believe that we have to be seen in the communities we serve and the communities need to see us away from our base”, he said.He dispatched John and Cathy Rolt to attend.“I am always surprised to see how much goodwill there is for the NSRI in areas some distance from our rescue bases. It is truly heart-warming to hear what people have to say about us”, Cathy said after the function.The Umdoni Golf Captain, Tony Hallett, said that as a former ski-boater, it was always a comfort to him to know that the NSRI was there if things went wrong.By co-incidence, co-operation between stations in KZN was emphasised because as the prize-giving was underway, Station 5, Durban, was taking a yacht undertow in a rescue that was initiated at Station 20, Shelly Beach, the previous evening.The competition was arranged by Cherylene Hogan of Two Oceans Golf Events and sponsored by Two Oceans wines.
(L-R) Cathy Rolt, Station 20 Shelly Beach, Tony Hallett, Umdoni Golf Captain, Cherylene Hogan, Two Oceans Golf Events and John Rolt, Station 20 Shelly Beach
