Knysna and Plett come to town at NSRI awards

GARDEN ROUTE NEWS – Two Garden Route neighbours, Plettenberg Bay Station 14 and Knysna Station 12, have jointly scooped the National Sea Rescue Institute's (NSRI) award for the Best RIB Station in 2024.

The award, presented on Friday 15 August at the 58th NSRI annual awards and AGM in Cape Town, are for the best rigid inflatable boat (RIB) station for the past year - with one of the criteria being successful rescues and response times.

The RIB craft are suited for coastal operations closer to shore.

Heartbeat

"Through seamless teamwork, strong community engagement, and unwavering operational standards, they have set a new benchmark," said Andrew Ingram, NSRI communications manager.

"Moreover, these flanking stations work collaboratively and are the true heartbeat of coastal preparedness in their region."

Station 12 previously won the award in 2015 and has received a Station Excellence award for the past 11 years.

Criteria

The best station award is allocated to a station based on the following criteria:

Successful rescues and response times
Has well-trained, disciplined, committed and happy crew
Takes pride in their assets and rescue base and maintain and care for them in the highest possible manner
Has strong leadership and administration management which sets the benchmark in operational excellence
Keeps a consistently good track record over the year, avoiding major issues, injuries, accidents and damages

Long service

Plettenberg Bay and Knysna members also received long service awards:

20 years: Jaco Kruger (Plettenberg Bay), Tracy Meintjies (Plettenberg Bay) and Emily Bruwer (Knysna)
30 years: Laurent Eray (Plettenberg Bay)
40 years: Paul Jordaan (Plettenberg Bay)

Positive

Station 21 commander Jerome Simonis said there definitely was no rivalry between the neighbours, but they are rather sharing the same mission and vision of the NSRI in the spirit of camaraderie.

"Station 14 (Plettenberg Bay) is an excellent station," he said. "Being in the same class as them is a great compliment. And if there was a big rescue, two well-trained stations would be working together, understanding each other and complimenting the rescue resources."

Station 14 commander Jaco Kruger said the joint award was very positive for the area and it was an honour to share the award with Knysna.

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