'The Originals'

What a day. Today the first crew members from Station 2 Bakoven, who joined back in the 1960s, got together to celebrate 50 years of Sea Rescue. Many of them had not seen each other for years. It was a noisy lunch with much laughing and teasing. Then the sms messages started coming through. STATION 3 CALLOUT - REPORT TO BASE, STATION 2, STATION 18, STATION 8. As so often happens, a rescue interrupted the lunch - Bruce and Mark excused themselves. As news started to filter in, the men got to observe how technology has changed the way that rescues are run.These men were today honored as Honorary Life Members. A fitting tribute to those who set the example and who began many of our traditions we still treasure.It was very special to have all the wives join us so that we could honor them too, as the vital support system back home. Thank you to Quentin from Quentin at Oakhurst who kindly hosted the lunch and Brad Geyser for making all the arrangements.There is a lovely story in the book 'Into a Raging Sea' - by Tony Weaver and Andrew Ingram - which records many of the early memories. If you have not read the book, you can buy a copy (in English or Afrikaans) online Ivan Klerck, Peter Pullen, Pieter Pienaar, Mitch Brown, Don Nicholls, Peter Adamo, Mike Hopkins and Allan Cramb Don's log book which recorded 1 540 and a half hours of service at sea