The venue was in the vicinity and surrounds of Mossel Bay, both off-shore and shoreline, and the exercise took place in very cold, misty weather between 18:00 on Saturday, 14 May and around sunrise on Sunday morning, 15 May.
The exercise was attended by all the surrounding NSRI stations which included Mossel Bay, Plettenberg Bay, Knysna, Witsand, Wilderness and Still Bay. Eighty-eight volunteers from the six stations, 12 sea rescue crafts and six rescue 4x4 vehicles participated.
The Transnet National Ports Authority was represented by Harbour Master, Quenton Brink, who courteously supplied the support tug, Arctic Tern, but at the same time, however, kept an all-night, unobtrusive eye over the proceedings in his domain of responsibility.
The sea rescue exercise involved sea rescue scenarios for simulated exercises in mainly two phases.
Phase 1 simulated a mass casualty incident - a passenger aircraft accident at sea. This exercise was preceded by a report delivered by NSRI Station Commander, Ray Farnham of Plettenberg Bay.
During this report he highlighted some of the traumatic experiences which the search and recover team had to cope with.
For the simulated exercise which followed, the rescuers had to retrieve 24 dummy casualties which were dropped off in the sea between Seal Island and the area at its Eastern side.
Phase 2 took place during the early hours of Sunday morning in very cold and misty circumstances. During this phase, four groups of sea rescuers rotated between four selected scenarios. These included the righting of a capsized boat, management of a diving accident, rock and surf rescue and a medivac which entails the lowering of a casualty or sick person from, for example, an oil tanker. Joining this venture was Jan Hoevers who made the luxury yacht, Island Explorer, available as observing outpost and therewith sacrificing a warm bed for a cold nightly excursion.
After every phase and throughout the night, the spirits of the tired and cold crews returning to base, were revived with steaming coffee, sausage rolls, hot spicy soups and even roasted snoek prepared by cook Floris Mocke and the smiling ladies of Station 15.
Everybody agreed that this efficient and hard working land crew made a significant contribution towards a highly successful venture. As a final observation one cannot help but to mention the existence, again experienced during the flow of the night, of an unwavering ‘esprit de corps’ amongst the crew that warmed the cold hours of the night. In this regard there were always smiles, a helping hand here and there, a feeling of companionship, and that indefinable ambience which can only be experienced in the presence of a fraternity of men and women unselfishly dedicated to serve those in peril on the sea - the buoys and gulls of the National Sea Rescue Institute.
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The crew ready to start on the lifesaving refreshments.
