LIFELINE December 2010 - English

LIFE LINE

December 2010

December 2010 The Newsletter of the International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF) December 2010 News… Experience… Ideas… Information… Development…

December 2010 In this issue: the World Maritime Rescue Congress, Shanghai, August 2011 award ceremonies - tales of exceptional bravery at sea news from Canada, New Zealand and the Caribbean more on mass rescue and on the Rescue Boat Code Europe Regional Development Group meeting report an inspiring story from the South Pacific and more!

December 2010 December 2010 December 2010

December A message from the Chairman, on behalf of the IMRF Trustees 2010 It gives me great pleasure to introduce another newsletter so soon after the last one sent out in October. I December mentioned then that we are working hard to improve communications with our membership and other 2010 interested parties, and this is part of that on-going process. This edition contains interesting and relevant topics and I would join with our editor, David Jardine-Smith, in urging you to continue sending in articles for inclusion in future editions.

December 2010 At a recent meeting of the IMRF Trustees, following a review of the increasing amount of work being carried out by the Secretariat, some restructuring has been agreed.

December

Gerry Keeling, who has successfully overseen the transition of the charity from ILF to IMRF, will be standing 2010 down as CEO with effect from 31 December 2010. This will enable him to return to full health following his illness during 2009/10 and also to focus his full attention on managing the organisation and running of the Quadrennial Congress in Shanghai on 24-28 August 2011 (please see the article in this edition of LIFE LINE).

December

2010 Gerry will remain as Company Secretary for the foreseeable future and, after the Congress, will become more involved with the major projects that the IMRF is increasingly becoming involved in.

December

The main point of contact for the Secretariat - especially for membership matters - is Ann Laing. Ann may be contacted by phone on +44 (0)1569 765768 or by email at a.laing@international-maritime-rescue.org.2010

The contact for the Quadrenniel Congress is congress2011@international-maritime-rescue.org and for LIFE December LINE news@international-maritime-rescue.org. For IMO matters please contact Dave Jardine-Smith at 2010 d.jardinesmith@international-maritime-rescue.org.

As we approach the end of another year I would like to thank all those who have worked so hard to keep the December IMRF moving forward. Ann Laing and her growing team of volunteers based at Stonehaven in Scotland, David 2010 Jardine-Smith in southern England, and last but by no means least Gerry in Ireland.

On behalf of the Trustees and the Secretariat, I send you the warmest wishes for 2011 and hope to see many December of you at the Congress in Shanghai.

2010

Michael Vlasto Chairman of IMRF Trustees

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December 2010 December

LIFE LINE

December 2010

Editorial

Contents Chairman‟s message……………...

Editorial……………………………..

Dates for the diary…………………

Mass rescue conference series….

The Athena incident………………

Mass rescue: report to the IMO….

Award news…………………..........

SAR Matters………………………..

Endurance in the South Seas……

World Maritime Rescue Congress Rescue Boat Code news….……..

Regional Meeting, Helsinki…...….

Auckland Man Gets Life………….

Thanks to Viking…………………..

News from the Caribbean………..

News from Canada……………….

Want to buy a Lifeboat?.................

Welcome to the December 2010 edition of LIFE LINE. Thank you very much for the feedback on our October issue - we‟re glad that so many of you found it helpful.

We did receive one complaint about our current distribution method - sending the newsletter out as a pdf attached to an email. We are very sorry if this has caused you inconvenience. I can assure you that it‟s only a temporary measure, while work is carried out on the IMRF website. In due course LIFE LINE will be available both as an emailed pdf and on the website, with a link distributed by email to our readership.

Speaking of which; if you want us to add contacts to our distribution list, either your own if you‟ve received this indirectly or someone else‟s who you think might like to receive LIFE LINE, please let Ann Laing know at a.laing@international-maritime-rescue.org.

As I wrote in our last edition, the IMRF, as the representative body of the world‟s maritime rescue organisations, should be a focal point for the collation and dissemination of useful information. But to publish valuable information in LIFE LINE, we need your input.

Please tell us about your organisation, the challenges it faces, and how you overcome them. Tell us about events you are planning or have taken part in. Share your SAR experience with our readers worldwide: tell us about emergencies you‟ve handled, tell us what went well and what went less well.

We can all learn from each other, and to enable this is one of the IMRF‟s primary functions. Please send all items for LIFE LINE - including pictures whenever possible - to news@international-maritime-rescue.org.

My grateful thanks to those of you who have already done this, especially if you have sent me your own newsletters with permission to „borrow‟ items from them. I will be taking advantage of these kind offers in future editions of LIFE LINE. Another IMRF function is to promote debate on what constitutes best SAR practice: we therefore began a discussion column called „SAR Matters‟ in LIFE LINE‟s last edition. The aim is to provide a forum for discussion on any topic relevant to water search and rescue that readers wish to introduce.

Please send in a brief piece to introduce the topic, and/or comments and questions arising from earlier pieces. We continue in this issue with the subject of how best to recover people from the water into highsided vessels - which is rather a hot topic in one of the committees of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) at the moment, as you can read in this issue.

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Dates for the Diary Shephard SAR Conference

13-14 Apr 2011

The 2011 event in this popular conference series will be held at the Bournemouth International Centre, Bournemouth, UK. See www.shephard.co.uk/events/65/search-and-rescue-2011.

World Maritime Rescue Congress, Shanghai 24-28 Aug 2011 The Congress will be hosted by China Rescue and Salvage. It will comprise presentations, workshops, an international SAR exhibition, and a major live SAR exercise. It will also be the venue for the IMRF‟s quadrennial Members‟ meeting. See the article in this issue of LIFE LINE for further details.

Conference and European Regional Meeting Oslo, 27-28 Oct 2011 The next European Regional Development meeting will be hosted by the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue. More details in due course.

Mass Rescue Conference

April 2012

The second in IMRF‟s conference series on mass rescue at sea will coincide with the centenary of the loss of RMS Titanic. It will continue work begun at Gothenburg in June 2010 (see report in the October issue of LIFE LINE) and to be progressed at the World Maritime Rescue Congress in Shanghai in August 2011.

Further details will be announced in LIFE LINE in due course.

Finally, those involved in rescue at sea don‟t do it for awards - and many who deserve the highest praise for what they do are often overlooked.

But not always. Turn to page 4…

Best wishes, Dave Jardine-Smith

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LIFE LINE

December 2010

mass rescue Mass rescue conference series Concerns about the challenges presented by mass rescue incidents around the world have led the IMRF to organise a series of conferences on the subject. The first was held in Gothenburg, Sweden, in June 2010 (see report in the October edition of LIFE LINE).

The conferences‟ overall aims are to share experience and initiatives, and to seek to improve the response to mass rescue incidents wherever they may occur.

Mass rescue: report to the IMO The IMRF, as an international „non-governmental organisation‟, has Observer status at the International Maritime Organization (the UN body overseeing maritime safety and environmental protection issues). We will be including regular reports on the IMRF‟s contributions to the IMO‟s work in LIFE LINE. The Radio Communications and Search and Rescue (COMSAR) Sub-Committee - one of several technical Sub-Committees reporting to IMO‟s Maritime Safety Committee - is most directly relevant to our work, and we will be publishing summaries of its work in LIFE LINE too. It meets annually and, among many other things, it oversees the work of the Joint Working Group on aeronautical and maritime SAR (the most recent meeting of which we reported on in our last edition).

The IMRF will be reporting the outcome of the first conference to the IMO (see this page) and will also be forming a mass rescue working group in the New Year, to consider the results of the conference and plan future work.

The IMRF will be submitting a paper to the next meeting of COMSAR, scheduled to be held at the IMO headquarters in London 7-11 March 2011. This paper will report the work being undertaken by the IMRF on the mass rescue issue, focusing particularly on the conclusions of the IMRF‟s Gothenburg conference last June.

There will be a ‘mass rescue’ theme as part of the IMRF Quadrennial Conference in Shanghai in August 2011, and the second in the specific conference series will be held in April 2012 - 100 years after the sinking of the Titanic.

 Recovery of people from survival craft or from the water remains a problem (especially in bad weather) that must be resolved.

Watch LIFE LINE for further updates.

As reported in our last issue, these were that:

 Rescue boats currently required under the SOLAS Convention are not always fit for purpose.  Carriage of practical means of recovery aboard all ships should be mandated by functional requirement, and efforts by the IMO to achieve this should be supported.  Clear communications from the outset are essential to successful mass rescue response. Communications should be planned, and the plan quickly implemented.  Response organisations should actively seek to learn from survivors‟ experience.

Athena On 27 October 2010 the fish factory vessel Athena suffered a major fire about 240 miles offshore, in the southwest approaches to the English Channel. 98 „non-essential personnel‟ were evacuated into liferafts, and were subsequently recovered by the container ship Vega - a classic example of mass rescue beyond the effective reach of shore-based SAR units. (See pictures above & below.)

The IMRF were invited by the UK Coastguard to attend a review of the incident - and have written to Vega‟s master asking for details of how he conducted the recovery operation.

More on this in a future edition of LIFE LINE.

 Liferafts should be clearly visible even if inverted, and made easier to access from the water. Should they be limited in size, to facilitate recovery?  We should avoid planning for the last emergency. Mass rescue planning should be goal-based, „light touch‟ and flexible, and should seek to minimise areas of potential conflict or misunderstanding.  A mass rescue will necessarily be a multi-agency response, and should be planned accordingly. It is essential to establish what resources are available and to organise those resources effectively. Direct liaison with external parties is very beneficial, and a system for distributing reliable information is required.

There is a great deal of work to be done here - and IMRF‟s ongoing work on the issue will, of course, contribute to it.

In particular the „recovery‟ issue is a problem for the global legislators: see „SAR Matters‟ in this issue of LIFE LINE. Communications, too, are a vital matter in the sort of large-scale response that a mass rescue incident will require. Failures of communication are a common complaint after such events - and work is needed to improve this aspect of the response in future.

It is this sort of important - and difficult - problem that we want to address in IMRF‟s mass rescue work. Members have a vital role to play in helping the IMO to make real progress.

IMRF Members or Affiliates wishing to see a copy of the IMRF‟s paper to COMSAR next March should contact Dave Jardine-Smith (d.jardinesmith@international-maritime-rescue.org). Comment is always welcome - but individuals are requested to pass comment on IMO papers via their parent organisations to ensure proper representation of Members‟ and Affiliates‟ views.

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LIFE LINE

December 2010

AFRAS Gold Medal

Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea

The United States‟ Association for Rescue at Sea (AFRAS) has presented its highest award to Aviation Survival Technician First Class Salvador Carire of US Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City, at a ceremony in Washington DC. On the night of 23-24 December 2009, the 38 foot fishing vessel Alisha Marie rolled over after being hit by a rogue wave, automatically inflating a liferaft into which the sole survivor of the incident climbed, wearing only a T-shirt and shorts. Two other men went down with Alisha Marie.

A first helicopter sent to the scene returned for fuel, reporting a debris field 36 nautical miles southeast of Barnegat Light, New Jersey. Petty Officer Carire‟s crew took on the search, in decreased visibility, high wind and confused seas. As their own helicopter neared the limit of its fuel endurance, Carire noticed a faint flashing glow in the water. He directed the pilots toward the light and deployed into the frigid water when he spotted an overturned liferaft.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) presents this Award each year to people who risk of their lives in attempting to save persons in distress or to prevent pollution of the marine environment.

On 24 November several hundred delegates to the Maritime Safety Committee, meeting in London, gave a standing ovation as the IMO Secretary-General, Efthimios E Mitropoulos, presented the 2010 Award to th 4 Engineer James Fanifau, of the Fijian-registered ship Scarlett Lucy, which had gone to the aid of a sinking yacht 350 miles offshore in severe weather in the Tasman Sea. One of the yacht‟s crew was able to climb the net lowered over the ship‟s side, but 71year-old Dr Jerry Morgan could not. Without thought for his own safety, Mr Fanifau went down the net to assist him, undoubtedly saving his life - and enabling him to be in London to witness the presentation.

Carire swam 50 yards to the raft, occasionally losing sight of it as he slowly closed the distance. After several attempts at righting it in the high winds and rough seas, Carire succeeded only to find that the zipper was jammed and he still could not get inside. Cutting through the raft with a knife he discovered a barely conscious, hypothermic man.

Carire signaled the helicopter to return for pick-up and deftly maneuvered the 280-pound fisherman out of the raft and into the rescue basket.

Now experiencing early stages of hypothermia himself, Petty Officer Carire stayed in the water while the aircrew recovered the fisherman. Once aboard the aircraft, Carire used his emergency medical training, treating the survivor and keeping him conscious while questioning him about other potential survivors.

Petty Officer Carire‟s courageous and heroic actions were instrumental in saving the life of the fisherman, in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Coast Guard.

The AFRAS Vice Admiral Thomas R. Sargent Gold Medal Award has been renamed in memory of Vice Admiral Sargent, who died in May 2010 after a long and distinguished Coast Guard career of almost 40 years, ending as Vice Commandant from 1970 until his retirement in 1974. He later became the first president of AFRAS and the creator of the AFRAS Gold Medal Award.

Petty Officer Carire is pictured above receiving the Award from AFRAS Chairman Vice Admiral Terry Cross, USCG (ret), while Diane and Amanda Ryan, daughter and granddaughter of Vice Admiral Sargent, look on.

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The Secretary-General also awarded a Certificate of Commendation to Coxswain Myck Jubber and crew members Kobus Meyer and Kim Germishuys of the National Sea Rescue Institute of South Africa‟s rescue boat Spirit of Rotary-Blouberg. (The crew are seen with Mr Fanifau at the award ceremony, above.)

Spirit of Rotary-Blouberg, working in sea and weather conditions close to her operational limits, successfully evacuated the 25 crew of the bulk carrier Seli 1, being driven ashore in Table Bay in September 2009.

A nice footnote: when it was reported in the local press that the rescue boat‟s crew could not really afford the trip to London to receive their award, no fewer than four shipping companies offered to foot the bill. We‟re all in this together!

Know of someone worthy of an IMO award? The IMO are seeking nominations for 2011. Please contact Dave Jardine-Smith for further details: d.jardinesmith@international-maritime-rescue.org.

LIFE LINE

December 2010

SAR Matters This is a discussion column, intended to provide a forum for LIFE LINE readers worldwide to contribute to debate on any relevant SAR issue.

Comment and/or new items for discussion should be emailed to news@international-maritime-rescue.org.

In this edition we continue our consideration of an issue raised at the IMRF mass rescue conference in Gothenburg; and a matter of considerable debate at the IMO:

Recovery of people from survival craft or from the water As discussed in „SAR Matters‟ in the October 2010 edition of LIFE LINE, the problem of how to recover people from survival craft, or from the water, has tended to be overlooked. We know how difficult it can sometimes be recovering people into designated rescue craft. But it is much more so when only large ships are available to tackle the job.

This point was very well made by Capt Esa Mäkelä, in his address to the IMRF‟s conference on mass rescue last June. Capt Mäkelä was on scene coordinator following the Estonia disaster in 1994. He described the immense problems of recovery faced by responding ships‟ crews and said that nothing much had improved since.

Efforts have been made, though. A draft SOLAS regulation was agreed by IMO‟s Maritime Safety Committee in 2006 which, if finally approved, would require all ships trading internationally to have a means of recovering people in sea conditions of 3m significant wave height. This would obviously be a great improvement on trying to launch unwieldy lifeboats or dangling a lifebuoy over the side - but the IMO‟s Ship Design & Equipment (DE) Sub-Committee has been locked in debate ever since about precisely how the regulation should work.

Some Flag States and representatives of the shipping industry argue that no new regulation is required at all, saying that, as the (mandatory) International Safety Management Code requires operators to plan for emergencies, the issue is already covered. But this does not square with stories of desperate rescues, or attempted rescues, carried out by big ships‟ crews unprepared and unequipped for the work.

The IMRF takes the view that improvements should be sought - and has supported the proposed new regulation. But this leads to the second part of the debate - the „performance standard‟; the minimum standard to be set internationally for recovery equipment design and crew training in its use. Apart from setting a baseline, such a standard is necessary for operators, Flag States and classification societies to assess equipment and crew performance.

It would be impracticable to expect every ship to demonstrate recovery capability in actual 3m sea conditions - which implies that typeapproval of new, purpose-built equipment is the way forward. But what about ships that can carry out recovery already? Requiring new gear just to meet inspection requirements - which means extra expense, on equipment not likely to be frequently used - seems onerous. Readers of LIFE LINE are likely to argue that the expense is worth it - but not everyone in the hard-pressed shipping industry agrees.

The debate will continue at the DE Sub-Committee‟s next meeting in March 2011, to which the IMRF will contribute.

What do YOU think? How have you dealt with recovery problems?

Are you aware of means of recovery - inexpensive but effective useable by big ships? What do you think IMRF’s line should be during IMO’s debate?

(Please note that any formal representations on the latter question should be made via Member or Affiliate organisations as soon as possible, for the IMRF Trustees’ consideration prior to DE’s meeting.)

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Endurance in the South Seas Many of us, if we are honest, would have to admit that, until recently, we hadn‟t heard of Tokelau. In fact it‟s a remote territory of New Zealand consisting of three small coral atolls, north of Samoa and east of Tuvalu deep in the South Pacific.

We‟ve heard of Tokelau now because of the extraordinary story of three young islanders who were reported missing in a 5 metre aluminium dinghy from Atafu atoll on 5 October. A huge search was mounted for them, with aircraft and ships covering 21,000 square kilometres, but to no avail. They were given up for dead and, reluctantly, the search was called off.

Then, on 25 November, came the astonishing news that they had been found, some 1300 km away in an unfrequented part of the Pacific west of Uvea in the French territory of Wallis and Futuna, northeast of Fiji. The New Zealand fishing vessel which picked them up, the San Nikuna, reported that the three boys were in surprisingly good spirits - after 50 days at sea.

They were nursed back to health with small portions of fruit and water and bandaging for skin damaged by spending so long in the open - followed in due course by a hearty „Kiwi breakfast‟. If San Nikuna had not found them they were unlikely to have survived much longer as, through lack of rain, they had begun to drink sea water.

It‟s an astonishing story of survival - and the IMRF has joined in sending congratulations to the people of Tokelau. But it does, once again, raise that most difficult question for all involved in search and rescue: when should we call a search off?

This is not in any way to suggest that the search in this case was anything other than extremely thorough. (News reports suggest that the boat may have been motoring out of the search area - which never helps!) But, as a general question, it is always worth reviewing. You cannot search forever, obviously: so there comes a time when, for lack of any positive information, and knowing that you have searched as best you can, the difficult decision has to be made.

Still: let‟s scrutinise the criteria. A future discussion item for „SAR Matters‟, perhaps?

LIFE LINE

December 2010

IMRF World Maritime Rescue Congress Shanghai 24-28 August 2011 Well: this is clearly the place to be in August 2011! Make a note in your diaries now! The quadrennial World Maritime Rescue Congress is to be held in Shanghai, very kindly hosted by China Rescue and Salvage. It will be a major event in the global maritime search and rescue calendar.

As Capt Song Jaihui, Director General of China Rescue and Salvage, has remarked, the world‟s first maritime rescue response service is reputed to have been established in China, at Zhenjiang on the banks of the Yangtze river in about 1701. “We look forward to welcoming our many international colleagues and friends here to the „birthplace‟ of our common humanitarian lifesaving mission,” says Capt Song, “and invite them to join us for th the 60 anniversary celebrations of its modern counterpart, China Rescue and Salvage.”

Delegates come to the Congress from the world‟s largest and smallest, oldest and newest maritime rescue organisations and the full range of maritime rescue and prevention activity is covered. Rescuers, leaders, coordinators, national and international authorities work together, sharing ideas, developments and lessons learned.

An international search and rescue exhibition will run in parallel with the Congress, providing an opportunity for rescuers, manufacturers and suppliers to discuss requirements, plans and ideas. They will also be able to see and discuss craft and other rescue equipment on the water nearby.

IMRF Members will hold their quadrennial general meeting during the Congress, providing Members with the opportunity to participate in defining the Federation‟s future programmes.

In addition to topic-focussed presentations, a live rescue exercise and international work groups, the Congress will include practical workshops on the IMRF‟s key developmental programmes - an international code of practice for maritime search and rescue operations by craft of less than 24 metres; large scale maritime rescue operations; and establishing sustainable maritime safety and emergency response in under-developed regions.

The Congress fee for IMRF Members is 4500 Chinese Yuan; for non-Members 8000 Yuan. Accommodation at the Congress hotel is available at a nightly rate of 1200 Yuan.

Intercontinental Congress Hotel, Pudong, Shanghai: World Maritime Rescue Congress & Exhibition venue

Interested? Of course you are! Please contact congress2011@international-maritimerescue.org for further details.

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LIFE LINE

December 2010

A Rescue Boat Code

Regional Development Groups

As reported in the October edition of LIFE LINE, work continues on the development of a risk-based Code of Practice for maritime SAR operations by vessels of less than 24m in length.

The Code is being developed by an international group drawn from IMRF Members, working in close liaison with the IMO to facilitate adoption by State administrations.

Good progress continues to be made.

Key to that progress has been the development of a risk assessment model for SAR operations from the beach to the open sea. The Code will lead a SAR organisation through all aspects of risk and safety assessment to ensure that appropriate equipment, procedures and training are identified and implemented.

It is not intended to define a set of prescriptive rules requiring all lifeboats to be built the same, or all operators to adopt the same procedures. The Code must be flexible enough to allow each organisation to continue to benefit from those designs and practices that they know provide the safety and capability essential to their own operation. „Keep it simple‟ is the philosophy underpinning the work.

The Code working group met at the Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution (KNRM) in IJmuiden on 25 November and will meet again on 24 February. In the meantime a number of workshops will be held with the aim of finalising the risk assessments.

From this the group will move on to consider the SAR competences required and the training outcomes necessary to achieving them.

It‟s a great deal of work - but the result will be of benefit to SAR organisations large and small around the world.

If you have any thoughts or comments on the project please send them to the Code project manager, Neil Chaplin, at: imrfcode@googlemail.com.

Thanks to Viking Viking Life-Saving Equipment A/S, of Esbjerg, Denmark, have decided to send fewer Christmas cards this year and they have donated what they saved to the IMRF. Thank you very much!

Regional Development Groups should:

European Regional Meeting A European Regional Development Group meeting was held at the Finnish Lifeboat Institution in Bågaskär on 29 October 2010.

The meeting was opened by Juha Toivola and Kyosti Vesterinen, Chairman and Director respectively of the Finnish Lifeboat Institution.

The Chairman of IMRF Trustees, Michael Vlasto, noted that the current Board of Trustees is in its final year of office. Much has been achieved - and there is still much to do - in supporting SAR in Africa, on developing a Rescue Boat Code, and on responding to mass rescue incidents.

The Group discussed these issues, as well as the vital matters of fundraising and communication, with reference to the IMRF‟s mission of bringing benefit both to its Members and to the developed world and the underdeveloped world.

On the Rescue Boat Code the Group agreed that simplicity and flexibility in keeping with local conditions are key. The Group very much supported the continuing work, noting that it was being done “on behalf of the world of waterborne rescue”.

Presentations were given on behalf of the French Société Nationale de Sauvetage en Mer, the National Rescue Society of Italy, the Norwegian Society for Sea Rescue, the Russian Voluntary Maritime Rescue Society, the Swedish Sea Rescue Society, the Finnish Lifeboat Institution, the Åland Islands Lifeboat Society, the Finnish Border Guard, the German Lifeboat Institution (including a review of the rescue of more than 200 passengers from the Lithuanian ferry, Lisco Gloria, on fire in the Baltic in October, in which communications were again found to be an area needing further work), the Danish Administration, the Marine Rescue Institute in Scotland, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution; and on a successful SAR drill carried out by BULSAR at Varna, Bulgaria.

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 be an informal yet effective forum for cooperation between all organisations interested in the promotion of safety on water, or providing effective maritime search and rescue services within their region  provide IMRF with invaluable insight into the priorities and problems of the region and assist it to hone its developmental and assistance programmes to best match the local geographical, political, cultural and economic needs of the region.

It is hoped that Regional Developmental Groups will also build IMRF‟s presence and membership levels within their region, thereby strengthening the organisation as a whole.

Like to know more? Please contact Ann Laing, of the IMRF Secretariat: a.laing@international-maritimerescue.org.

Finnish lifeboats at Bågaskär

Auckland Man Gets Life

Congratulations to IMRF Trustee Brooke Archbold (right, with his wife, Jean, and Coastguard New Zealand CEO Bruce Reid) on

being awarded Coastguard New Zealand Life Membership in recognition of his outstanding service over 27 years.

LIFE LINE

Caribbean News

December 2010

that the Coast Guard gets back from its support of the Auxiliary.”

“We look forward to watching the birth of the Trinidad and Tobago organization,” added Mr McArdle, Chief of the USCG Auxiliary‟s Caribbean Division.

Want to buy a Lifeboat?

The RNLI have some all-weather and inshore lifeboats available for disposal.

(with thanks to John Cooper of the Caribbean Search and Rescue Group: CAR-SAR)

Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard hosts US Coast Guard & Auxiliary Lt Scott Parkhurst, USCG, with USCG Auxiliarists John Cooper and Brian McArdle recently visited Trinidad and Tobago at the request of Cdr Gregory Walcott, Executive Officer of the islands‟ Coast Guard, who are seeking assistance in forming an Auxiliary service.

The three met senior Coast Guard officers and leading members of the community interested in organizing a volunteer Auxiliary to assist the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard.

They were also able to tour the Coast Guard‟s base at Staubles Bay, Port of Spain.

“We were very impressed with the operations and professionalism of the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard,” commented Mr Cooper, Consultant with the International Affairs Directorate of the USCG Auxiliary. “It was important to understand their current status and what their needs are in order to provide helpful information. We stressed the need to accurately report on their activities to all interested parties to ensure everyone knows what is being done by the new organization and to measure its success.”

“We were able to provide information on how the US Auxiliary operates, its missions, how it interacts with the Coast Guard and its contribution to Homeland Security and boating safety,” stated Lt Parkhurst. “Of great interest was the high level of return

Canadian News The Tyne Class lifeboat was designed by the RNLI primarily as a slipway launched boat, which requires the propellers to be protected. As a result the class is also suitable to lie afloat at stations where propeller protection is required by local conditions.

New boat for Coast Guard Auxiliary Station 27 Nanaimo Dreaming, fundraising, meetings, planning, building, meetings, emails, phone calls, testing, driving, sleepless nights, more meetings, a baby and an “awesome ride” home. In this (interesting) way the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary‟s new Falkin 33 „came home‟ to Nanaimo on the east coast of Vancouver Island - and what‟s more she fitted in the boathouse!

She‟s a „rollover-capable‟ aluminum boat with foam "D" collars and air bladder and a watertight cabin with shock-mitigating seats for four with 4-point harnesses. The class - of which the City of Nanaimo boat is the first - is powered by Volvo twin 435hp engines with Hamilton 274 jets or Yamaha 350hp 4-stroke outboards. Two more Falkin 33s are being built, with three more planned.

Nanaimo is the busiest unit in the region, averaging 90 calls a year.

Vital statistics: length 47ft (14.3m); beam 14ft (4.48m); displacement 27 tons; speed 18 knots; range: 240 nautical miles; crew 6.

Atlantic 75 inshore lifeboats are also available. Length 24ft (7.3m); beam 8ft 8ins (2.64m); displacement: 3200lbs (1450kg); speed 32 knots; range 3 hours at maximum speed; crew 3. If available at the time of sale outboard engines can also be supplied.

If you are interested please telephone the RNLI Disposals Coordinator on +44 (0)1202 663442, or fax +44 (0)1202 663278.

Do you have news to share with SAR colleagues worldwide? If so, please let LIFE LINE know. Contact news@international-maritimerescue.org.

And finally...

We hope that you have found this issue of LIFE LINE informative and useful. We are well aware that there is much more going on among IMRF‟s membership that could be reported here, to the benefit of all - but, of course, we rely on you, the reader, to tell us about it!

Please remember: news@international-maritime-rescue.org. Let‟s spread the word, for the benefit of all at risk on the world‟s waters.

LIFE LINE 8