LIFELINE October 2011 - English

LIFE LINE

October 2011

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

December 2010 In this issue:     

the IMRF’s new Board of Trustees reports from the World Maritime Rescue Congress 2011 news from China, South Africa, Scotland, the IMO and the IMRF Secretariat an offer of handheld radios from the UK and more!

December 2010 December 2010 December 2010 December 2010 December 2010 December 2010 December 2010 December 2010 December 2010 December 2010 December 2010 December

In this edition of LIFE LINE we feature a number of reports from the IMRF’s World Maritime 2010 Rescue Congress in Shanghai, in late August. Here we see (clockwise from top left), rescue boats from China Rescue and Salvage (CRS) taking part in an excellent SAR demonstration; a CRS December helicopter flying the IMRF flag; and Mr Efthimios Mitropoulos, Secretary-General of the 2010 International Maritime Organization, addressing the Congress’s opening session.

December page 1 2010 December

LIFE LINE

October 2011

Editorial Welcome to the - delayed - October edition of LIFE LINE. Let me begin by apologising for this delay: all the members of the (small!) Secretariat team have been hard at work on the World Maritime Rescue Congress and everything that has flowed from it.

Nevertheless, we had hoped to publish our newsletter a little earlier in the month.

Well: here it is at last. Normal service should be resumed with our December edition!

The Congress in Shanghai naturally occupies a lot of our attention in this present edition. I hope that those of you able to attend will agree that it was a major success - largely because of the hard work of Gerry Keeling, Jiahui Song, and all Capt Song’s team at China Rescue and Salvage, who co-hosted the event; but also because of the Congress delegates’ lively engagement and enthusiasm.

Contents Editorial

Dates for the Diary

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A message from the Chairman

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3

World Maritime Rescue Congress

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SAR Matters .............................................

5

Mass rescue operations

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6

Rescue boat guidelines

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6

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7

IMO news

News from South Africa Keeping track News from Scotland

The Congress report and copies of all the presentations are now available for download from the Members’ area of the IMRF website www.international-maritime-rescue.org.

Congress delegates without access to the Members’ area of the site should contact me for copies, at d.jardinesmith@international-maritime-rescue.org.

I would like to close by wishing all the very best to my dear old friend, Gerry Keeling, who - as announced in Shanghai and in this edition of LIFE LINE - is standing down from the IMRF Secretariat.

I’ve known Gerry for some ten years, working with him initially on the SAR aspects of passenger ship safety at the IMO - a subject which he addressed on the ILF / IMRF’s behalf with his usual huge passion.

I got a word in edgeways now and then...

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Not all of you could attend - so we will do our best to report back to you on how it all went. In this edition we focus on the Congress content. In December we will summarise the decisions of the IMRF’s Quadrennial General Meeting (held in parallel with the Congress), and look in more detail at the Congress results.

We have also disabled hyperlinks in the newsletter, as some of you are unable, for security reasons, to use them. We hope these changes help: please let me know if they do not!

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The IMRF’s Board of Trustees

Shark bite

Returning to LIFE LINE, you will have seen that we have altered our distribution process. We want to avoid the inconvenience readers may experience when trying to receive an email attachment through a firewall or on a handheld device by sending you only the links to the latest newsletter on the website.

Once there, of course, you can also find previous editions, and other good things!

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7

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8

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Gerry Keeling

News from the IMRF Secretariat

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9

IMRF Asia Pacific Regional Centre

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Need to talk? .............................................

10

Send us your news & pictures

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Two retirements

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Dates for the Diary SAR ASIA-2011

6-7 Dec 2011

The first Shephard Group SAR event in the Asia-Pacific region will be held in the Holiday Inn Atrium, Singapore.

For programme enquires contact Capt Gabriel Kinney, USCG (retired) at gkinney@twcny.rr.com.

Mass Rescue Conference

4-6 June 2012

The second in IMRF‟s conference series on mass rescue at sea will continue work begun in Gothenburg in June 2010 (see report in the October 2010 issue of LIFE LINE) and progressed at the World Maritime Rescue Congress in Shanghai. Further details will be announced in LIFE LINE in December.

If you have a SAR event of international interest which you would like to see listed here, just let us know!

Cheers, Gerry. It’s been, and will, I’m sure, continue to be, a very great pleasure.

Dave Jardine-Smith news@international-maritimerescue.org

news@international-maritime-rescue.org page 2

LIFE LINE

October 2011

The IMRF’s Board of Trustees (Right:) The IMRF’s Board of Trustees pose for photographs after being voted into office by the Quadrennial General Meeting in Shanghai in August.

From the left: Brooke Archbold (New Zealand), Hamish McDonald (Scotland), Michael Vlasto (UK; and Chairman of the Trustees), Udo Fox (Germany), Jorge Diena (Uruguay), Rolf Westerström (Sweden), and Jiahui Song (China).

We heartily congratulate all seven Trustees on their election, and wish them every success as they guide the IMRF through its next four years.

We are particularly pleased to welcome Jorge aboard, as our newest Trustee - and we suppose we should take this opportunity to congratulate Brooke on New Zealand’s recent victory in the Rugby World Cup. We knew they’d do it eventually...!

From our Chairman:

Now let me turn to some words of thanks, greeting, and farewell.

In recent months it has sometimes seemed that the World Maritime Rescue Congress and the IMRF Quadrennial General Meeting in Shanghai filled the horizon. They did not really, of course: the work of the IMRF and its Members has continued uninterrupted. But now that both Congress and QGM are behind us, we can draw breath and reflect on where we are, and where we should head for next.

First to Jiahui Song and all his team at China Rescue and Salvage, who worked so hard to make the Congress the success it undoubtedly was. On behalf of the IMRF I would like once again to extend our th congratulations to the CRS on their 60 anniversary, the celebration of which coincided with the Congress.

First let me say what an honour it is for me to be reelected as Chairman of the IMRF Trustees. I know that those of my fellow Trustees also returned for another period of office feel equally honoured.

I know too that none of us feels in any way complacent as a result. It is very clear that there is a lot of work for us to do and that the Members expect us to get on and do it. As I said in the closing session of the QGM: we are listening, and we will act in accordance with the Members’ expressed wishes for the IMRF. The Board of Trustees is very much operationally focused. We recognise that we need to have a very clear strategy, and that we need to widen our view of the overall requirements of this organisation. In the coming quadrennium we need to look seriously at fundraising and at our governance arrangements, for example.

We will begin with a careful review of how we manage the IMRF’s Secretariat and how it should work in future to communicate better with the IMRF Members and to fulfil our shared aims. Among those aims must be an increase in the Membership: everyone in SAR has something to gain from the IMRF - and also something to give.

Our rescue boat guidelines and mass rescue operations projects continue. We will work to bring greater focus onto accident prevention and safety education. We will audit the Members to discover what each can contribute to global maritime SAR: the skills and capabilities we have between us are immense - and should be shared more effectively.

Watch for news from the IMRF Secretariat, and on the website and in LIFE LINE. Watch for it - then please react to it! The IMRF can only work if we work together and if we do, it will move us forwards.

Second, to Gerry Keeling, who announced at the closing session of the QGM and Congress (which he had worked so hard to organise) that he would be standing down from the IMRF Secretariat.

For Gerry, the words ‘thank you’ seem inadequate. He was and always will be our first CEO, determinedly building a very different organisation from its origins in the ILF. It is now the IMRF’s wish that he becomes our first Honorary Member, and we hope that, in that capacity, SAR people around the world will continue to benefit from his experience and wisdom for years to come. And let me add, too, our grateful thanks to Gerry’s wife, Kathleen, for her steadfast support throughout. SAR people sometimes get recognition: and SAR people’s spouses like Kathleen deserve it too.

It is also ‘farewell and thank you’ to Sip Wiebenga, who, after many years’ involvement with the ILF and IMRF, has now stood down as a Trustee. Many fledgling lifeboat services have had great support from Sip down the years: he has been an exemplar of what the IMRF is all about. We all join in wishing him and Marina - also a most supportive spouse - a long and happy retirement.

Finally, some welcomes - to Jorge Diena, who takes Sip’s place on the Board of Trustees. We are very pleased to have you. And to the organisations who have indicated recently that they wish to join the IMRF: no fewer than eight of you at the Congress alone. We look forward to receiving the paperwork!

In closing, let me remind you of our shared mission, to prevent loss of life in the world’s waters. Let’s go forward and do it together.

Michael Vlasto Chairman of IMRF Trustees

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Well - that was good!

The IMRF’s 2011 World Maritime Rescue Congress, held in Shanghai in August, was attended by 252 delegates, representing 63 IMRF Members and other organisations from some 38 countries around the world. 18 organisations were represented in the co-located International SAR Exhibition.

As you can see, it started with a bang! China Rescue and Salvage (IMRF Members and co-hosts of the Congress, together with the Shanghai Urban Construction and Communications Commission) laid on a very impressive SAR demonstration at their rescue wharf at Donghai on the first morning.

That afternoon the Congress was addressed by the Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China, Zhang Denjiang (pictured above) - an honour indeed. Delegates were also welcomed by China’s Minister of Transport, Li Shenglin; the Vice Minister of Transport, Weng Mengyong; the Mayor of Shanghai, Han Zheng; and Efthimios Mitropoulos, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization; and, of course, by the IMRF’s Chairman of Trustees, Michael Vlasto.

The primary aims of the Congress were to enable the sharing of ideas, experience, and lessons learned, and to help develop global maritime SAR capability and sustain lifesaving services. Over the next three days delegates were able to attend Congress sessions divided into four ‘work streams’ - on the IMRF rescue boat guidelines and mass rescue perations projects; on international SAR development; and on general subjects.

Please see the separate articles on the two IMRF projects in this edition of LIFE LINE (page 6). Delegates attending the forum on international development heard presentations from Tim de Wet, of the National Lake Rescue Institute of Uganda, entitled ‘From pilot to practice: a proven Africa SAR model for the developing world’; James Vaughan, of the UK’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution, on ‘How the IMRF can help: a Member’s view’; Thore Hagman and Mattias Wengelin of the Swedish Sea Rescue Society on ‘Supporting global SAR development’; and Colin Braithwaite of the Maritime Rescue Institute in Scotland on ‘Designing and implementing an effective programme’.

Under the heading of general SAR subjects, Colin spoke again on ‘Running a small SAR organisation’; Roemer Boogaard of the Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution gave a presentation on ‘Managing volunteer availability; Zhang Rongjun of China MRCC explained ‘Governmental roles in response to maritime accidents’; and Huang Ruhui spoke on the ‘Rescue of a capsized

October 2011

steel ship’. Romano Grandi, of the Italian National Rescue Society, showed a children’s water safety video; Ann Laing presented on Maritime Rescue Institute's education and prevention initiatives; Fredrik Forsman of Sweden’s Chalmers University talked about ‘The human perspective in SAR design and operation’; and Per Egon Persson of the Swedish Sea Rescue Society spoke on ‘SAR technology, craft and equipment’.

Fredrik Forsman discussed ‘Distributing search patterns using ECDIS’; Zhang Liang of China MSA spoke on ‘The application of AIS in maritime SAR’; and Udo Fox of the German Maritime SAR Service on the potential applications of satellite AIS. Mikael Hinnerson, Fredrik Falkman & Jorgen Lorén introduced the FIRST Project being conducted by the Swedish Sea Rescue Society and Stena Line; Steve Wills of the RNLI spoke on ‘Managing an international flood rescue service’; and Lin Daqin of China Rescue and Salvage discussed ‘Large rescue vessel techniques in rough sea conditions’.

Zhao Xinfu of China Rescue and Salvage spoke on ‘Scientific rescue at sea’; Gong Yongjun of Dalian Maritime University on ‘Training simulation for the airsea rescue operation’; and Udo Fox, speaking on behalf of the World Maritime University, discussed strategic thinking in complex and dynamic situations. Kristinn Olafsson, of ICE-SAR, Iceland, gave a presentation titled ‘Battle with the sea: a success story’; Marcelo Ulyssea, of Sea Angels, spoke on ‘Brazilian coastal and ocean rescue services’; and Mike Tipton, of the UK’s University of Portsmouth, gave an update on cold water immersion research and its implications for SAR. Stan Warlow & Randy Strandt of the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary Pacific spoke on ‘Big achievements in a smaller organisation’; Ole Lyngenbo of Danish Sea Rescue on ‘Building up a non-governmental sea rescue society’; and Peter Blackhurst, of Inmarsat: ‘GMDSS communications - a new world in the future?’ Jaap Gelling spoke about ‘New high speed lifeboat hull design’ on behalf of the Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution; Holger Freese of the German Society for Sea Rescue on ’20 metre and 36 metre rescue cruisers’; Zhou Baizheng & Liu Peng of China Rescue and Salvage about ‘FDR data in SAR helicopter safety’ and ‘Case analysis of helicopter ship winching operations’ respectively; and Tim Williams of Eurocopter discussed the future of rotary wing aircraft in SAR. Copies of all these presentations are available for download from the Members’ section of the IMRF website: www.international-maritime-rescue.org.

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LIFE LINE

SAR Matters This discussion column provides 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-maritimerescue.org. In this edition our out-going Secretary, Gerry Keeling, reflects on global SAR successes and challenges.

Does success breed success?

Over the last 50 years, the international maritime search and rescue system has evolved and improved significantly. Many more lives are saved every year and we should all be very proud of that. The key question is, however: “Have we succeeded in solving our problems, or has our success created an even bigger problem for us?”

In most developed countries, the number of people using our waters (or flying over them) has increased exponentially in recent years. But our prevention and education programmes have stemmed the number of urgent life-threatening incidents.

Emergency communications and positioning systems increase the probability of a casualty being located quickly.

Appropriate assistance can be made available before the situation becomes life-threatening. Even where vessel abandonment becomes necessary, improved equipment greatly improves the probability of a casualty surviving until rescued.

We have also quietly achieved advances in global SAR response capability. We have the international GMDSS system, a Global SAR Plan and an integrated network of MRCCs covering most of the world’s oceans. Our surface and aeronautical SAR units utilise some of the most advanced technologies. We have more integrated and better-structured operational procedures. We have more formalised ways of developing and maintaining the competencies of rescue crews. We have better ways of treating casualties we are taking to a place of safety, with expert telemedical assistance readily available to the rescuer.

All in all, we do a great job, and it would certainly appear that seafarers can reasonably expect to survive “routine” maritime emergency situations.

But I would ask two things: “How VISIBLE are the real problems and challenges still facing the maritime SAR community?” and “Why would anyone think that WE might need their help?”

The incidents of September 11th 2001 and the consequent focus on public security and counterterrorism; the increase in maritime piracy; the incessant narcotics trade by sea; the immigration

October 2011

aspects of the flow of economic migrants; and the continuing focus on safeguarding the maritime environment have all - rightly - become important issues on the international agenda.

Paradoxically, our recent successes have inadvertently allowed maritime SAR to slip down the priority list. Maybe it is now time for the international search and rescue community to re-group.

Underlying our external veneer of success, we have unresolved problems and future challenges well worthy of broader and more public discussion.

The longer-standing ILF / IMRF member organisations are mainly volunteer-based, independent, charitable “lifeboat” services, some of which pre-date their state-run counterparts by 100 years or more. But changes in work patterns, population mobility and lifestyle present significant challenges for many volunteer-based rescue organisations, reducing the availability of experienced volunteers, or shortening typical volunteer career lengths; while the cost of developing individual volunteers is increasing year by year.

Yet the distribution of global wealth and consequent changes in the availability of traditional philanthropic funding are likely to present significant challenges for large charitable SAR organisations over the coming decades.

Increasingly, coastal search and rescue is being carried out by a state’s permanent maritime forces (civilian and military), particularly in developing countries, where there is neither the tradition nor the economic environment to support more community-based volunteer or charitable organisations. With the significant widening of the scope of states’ maritime obligations, accompanied by inevitable budgetary restrictions, managers of many state maritime agencies face really significant challenges in achieving or maintaining service levels.

Looking to the future, the availability of funding is perhaps the biggest single challenge which we, the global SAR community, face. If we are to be successful in raising the necessary funding to maintain our current services, not to mention addressing the many remaining challenges, we need to make our funders (governments, philanthropists and the public at large) better aware of what we actually do and what would happen if we stop.

Perhaps our natural habit of publicising our successes may come at the expense of leaving people unaware of the real challenges we face.

Is there a role for IMRF in leading an international media campaign, using the significant global public relations capability of its members, to raise awareness of the real and life-threatening sustainability challenges that face our SAR community? page 5

LIFE LINE

October 2011

Mass Rescue Operations

Rescue Boat Guidelines

In addition to the work streams on international development and general SAR subjects at August’s World Maritime Rescue Congress in Shanghai (see page 4), delegates were able to attend streams devoted to the two ongoing IMRF projects - mass rescue operations, and rescue boat guidelines.

In Shanghai, Congress delegates were able to join in the development of IMRF’s rescue boat guidelines.

The mass rescue operations work stream began with a workshop on on-scene operations, which included a presentation by the FIRST Project team on ‘Launch and recovery from ships’. Delegates then moved on to consider coordination issues, with presentations by Udo Fox on ‘The German approach to the unified command structure’; and Risto Jaaskelainen of the Finnish Border Guard on ‘Aircraft coordination’. Udo Fox also spoke on the Lisco Gloria incident; and Peng Zan of China Rescue and Salvage discussed the human element in mass rescue. The ‘complications’ of mass rescue were also considered, with Udo Fox kindly giving another presentation, this time on the medical aspects.

Workshops on communications and on mass rescue planning followed. The latter session included a presentation by Phil Aspinall of Virgin Islands SAR: ‘Mass rescue challenges in the Caribbean’. Presentations were given by David McBride and Harold Hunt of the United States Coast Guard on ‘Systems and equipment for optimising SAR capability’; and by Meng Daqiu on China Rescue and Salvage’s rescue equipment efficiency tests. A tabletop exercise, based on a scenario involving an accident to a very large cruise ship, gave delegates a further opportunity to discuss the issues likely to arise in mass rescue operations; and the work stream ended with a discussion on ‘what next’ for this IMRF project.

The simple answer to that last question is: ‘Gothenburg’.

The second in the IMRF’s mass rescue operations conference series is scheduled to be held in Gothenburg, Sweden, 4-6 June 2012. Issues arising from the first in the series, and from the discussions in Shanghai, will be addressed, and practical project outcomes identified.

Note the dates in your diary!

Members of the project team led discussions on identifying the need for such guidelines, under the heading ‘Enhancing safety, not restricting operations’, and then moved on to look at how to close the gap: ‘Mutual support and sharing for the benefit of all.’

The stream continued with a workshop on building the guidelines, entitled ‘Navigating regulation, and working together’. There were also ‘review and catchup’ sessions, including a presentation by Fredrik Forsman of Chalmers University, Sweden, entitled ‘From self-taught to trained’, and delegates then moved on to discuss where next to take the guidelines project.

In summarising the work done during the Congress, Neil Chaplin of the project team reminded delegates that - in the words of former IMRF Chairman Rolf Westerström - “the guidelines are a supporting tool to motivate and enable users to develop and improve their service”.

The aim of the project, consequently, is to document and implement an internationally recognised, simple, justifiable and scalable framework for safe and effective operations by maritime SAR units of less than 24 metres in length. Supporting the guidelines will be an evidence-based, live source of best practice guidance - provided by the Members for the Members.

After the Congress’s discussions, Neil was able to report that the project has strong Member support and remains on course, following the project team’s published roadmap. Project management continues as before but every effort will be made to expand the Working Group, utilising regional points of contact. A ‘sales pack’ and support will be provided, and the project team will see if timescales can be shortened.

Parts 1 & 2 - policy and scope - can be agreed quickly; and Part 3 - risk-based operator support may be fully developed by mid-2013.

Gothenburg: watch LIFE LINE for conference details

Delegates wishing to have greater input into the guidelines work are requested to contact Neil at imrfcode@googlemail.com. page 6

LIFE LINE

IMO News As IMRF Members and regular readers of LIFE LINE will know, the IMRF has consultative status at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and takes an active part in the IMO’s meetings to further the cause of maritime search and rescue.

In early October the IMRF attended the IMO and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)’s Joint Working Group on SAR. The Joint Working Group meets between sessions of IMO’s COMSAR SubCommittee (which deals with radiocommunications and SAR issues), and one of its principle tasks is to review and suggest improvements as appropriate to the International Aeronautical and Maritime SAR Manual - ‘IAMSAR’.

Over the last few months the IMRF has been chairing an international group of medical, survival and SAR experts engaged in updating the IMO’s guidance on cold water survival. The results of this work were presented to the Joint Working Group’s October meeting, and - if COMSAR agrees next March - these texts will replace the existing guidance.

LIFE LINE will keep you posted!

Another IMO matter to bear in mind is the long-running discussion in the Ship Design & Equipment (DE) SubCommittee on how best to improve ships’ capability of recovering people from the water - in cases where no dedicated SAR units are available, for example, or they cannot arrive in time.

The IMRF has been taking an active part in what has been a difficult debate, and we are co-sponsoring a paper proposing a solution to DE in February.

This is literally vital, life-saving stuff.

If you have the ear of your Government, urge them to support us at DE!

October 2011

News from South Africa

The following story of an award-winning rescue on Africa’s southern coast in the winter of 2010 is included for its own value, but also as an example of the NSRI’s tracking system in action: see the article on page 8.

On the night of 14/15 June 2010 the 12m ketch Redfin was in trouble off Quoin Point, near the southernmost tip of Africa. She had lost her engine, then her steering, and then the drogue deployed to slow her drift. An on-shore 25 knot southeasterly wind, with 3 metre swells, was driving her landwards. She made a Mayday call.

Redfin had five people aboard.

23 miles away, around the other side of Cape Agulhas, is Struisbaai where the National Sea Rescue Institute’s Station 30 is based. Struisbaai is the home of the NSRI’s 8.5m rigid inflatable rescue boat Vodacom Rescuer VII; ‘Rescue 30’ (pictured above).

Rescue 30 launched about midnight with Jacobus (‘Jaco’) Louw as coxswain in charge and Reinhard Geldenhuys, also a qualified coxswain, and Darryl Moon as his crew. On the Struisbaai side of Cape Agulhas the weather was particularly foul.

A Force 7/8 was blowing, pushing up a 7 metre swell. There was no moon.

The coast between Struisbaai and Quoin Point is uninhabited, except around Cape Agulhas itself. If the rescue crew had got into trouble there was no more help nearby. In these daunting conditions, navigating by radar and the boat’s global positioning system, it took Rescue 30 two hours to reach the casualty.

two men - were taken off without too much difficulty onto the bow of the rescue boat. The main problem was that the yacht’s sails were still hoisted and she was rolling violently. Illumination was provided initially by white flares and during the transfer by Rescue 30’s two spotlights, which gave a good light.

At this time the skipper of Redfin refused to leave his vessel, despite repeated pleas for him to do so. Finally, at 0320, being unable to persuade the skipper to leave and with four hypothermic survivors in his open boat, Jaco turned Rescue 30 for the return journey to Struisbaai. Happily, after further urging via cellphone from Station 30’s commander, Shane Kempen, Redfin’s skipper agreed to be taken off. Rescue 30 returned to the casualty and took the skipper aboard at 0343.

The return journey took just over an hour, and R30 entered Struisbaai harbour at 0450 without further incident.

In the words of the citation of the Bronze Gallantry Award presented to him for this service, “Jaco Louw’s behaviour that night was exemplary and in the very best traditions of the NSRI. Without hesitation he took his open boat out into fearful conditions and saved five lives at sea, and by example encouraged his crew to do their very best in assisting him in the task.”

Although other NSRI craft had been launched as back-up, they were a long way away. As Jaco put it: “If we did not go, there was nobody else. There was no option. I just stayed calm and we went.” Which sums up SAR pretty well, really...

There is a footnote to the story.

The local community salvaged the stranded Redfin with an excavator and a flatbed truck and at no charge.

On scene the sea conditions were rather better, as Redfin was partially in the lee of the land. Jaco Louw approached the casualty at 45°, in her lee and on her port quarter. In three passes taking 20 minutes in all, the crew of the yacht - two women & page 7

LIFE LINE

Keeping Track Rescue 30 was all alone on the wild night she rescued the five crew of the Redfin (see story on page 7) - but she was not unwatched.

Christopher Hudson of NSRI writes: The NSRI began taking a serious interest in electronic systems for tracking boats in the early 2000s, particularly at station level. In 2007 we attended the IMRF Congress in Gothenburg and I was tasked with looking into what tracking systems other sea rescue organisations were using. The AIS-based system used in Sweden was impressive, but at that time AIS coverage around the South African coast was very limited.

Shortly after our return home we were approached by a leading supplier of vehicle tracking systems.

These systems use the cellphone GPRS / GSM network: there are sufficient cellphone masts close to the coastline to provide coverage up to 20 miles out to sea. Each tracker unit includes a GPS element and whilst in range of the land masts the boat’s position is transmitted every two minutes.

October 2011

and can follow the tracks of its own rescue boats and its rescue vehicle via an internet connection to a NSRI server located in Cape Town, which is itself fed from the tracking company’s central data hub, based in Johannesburg.

Every station is also able to track the rescue craft of its flanking stations.

‘Flanking stations’ is an elastic concept; it includes not only the station on either side of the station in question but also those other stations with which it may carry out joint services.

This tracking system is proving useful and popular with the rescue stations as it enables them to keep track of their assets even when radio communication is lost. In multiple station activities the system is an additional command and control tool for those in charge of the operation.

These tracking units are fitted to all NSRI rescue boats of 5.5m in length or larger and to each NSRI station’s rescue vehicle. Each rescue station has a copy of the tracking program

IMRF Members the Maritime Rescue Institute periodically publish a selection of SAR-related information from around the world in their SAR// Clippings.

If you would like to subscribe, mail sar.clippings@maritime-rescueinstitute.org, stating your country, age, gender, and SAR involvement.

(This information will be held in confidence, for statistical use.)

Please note that - in order not to be overwhelmed with data! - SAR// Clippings mainly deals with incidents occurring in the commercial sector.

Shark Bite Maritime SAR is not all about rescue boats and aircraft. A major part of it occurs on, or close to, shorelines - and the SAR people may be land-based. Here’s a story from Fish Hoek, near Cape Town.

A Canadian swimming near a (closed) beach was bitten by a 4m great white shark, losing part of his right leg. Two nearby whalewatchers, Hugh Till & Douglas Drysdale, who had tried to warn the man of the danger, went into the sea, despite the spreading pool of blood and the proximity of the shark, and pulled him ashore.

To provide coverage further out our suppliers have designed a unit that transmits the boat’s position via satellite to the company’s central data hub. The unit automatically switches to satellite mode when it cannot interrogate a GSM/GPRS mast.

Because of the cost of satellite communication, position information is only transmitted every 10 minutes in this mode.

The tracking unit is activated when the boat’s ignition is switched on and until the ignition is switched off the boat’s position is shown by a single dot on the chart displayed on the computer screen. The electronic charts have been supplied by the South African Navy Hydrographic Office, at no charge. Once the ignition is switched off there is a short delay and then the track of the whole voyage can be viewed. Any point on this track can be interrogated to find the rescue asset’s speed and heading at the time.

News from Scotland

Rescue 30’s track during the Redfin rescue - an open rescue boat, in the dark, gale-force winds and heavy seas. “Under these circumstances,” says Christopher Hudson, “The base crew in Struisbaai were thankful that they could follow their rescue boat’s progress all the way...”

Shark Spotter Monwabisi Sikweyiya then arrived, and used his shirt to try and stem the flow of blood, and his belt as a tourniquet.

He also alerted the emergency services.

“Monwa saved his life without a doubt,” says NSRI’s Simonstown station commander, Darren Zimmerman, who was one of the first intermediate life support medics on-scene. IV lines were set up and bystanders squeezed the drip bags to get the fluid into the casualty as fast as possible, as the medics applied a special neoprene tourniquet bandage to the limb.

An EMS helicopter was available and the man was in hospital about an hour after being bitten. He lived.

NSRI station commander Darren Zimmermann with colleagues Kim You and Heath Giloi were the first medics onscene after the Fish Hoek shark incident

But had any one of the links in this SAR chain been broken, the outcome would have been very different. page 8

LIFE LINE

October 2011

Gerry Keeling When Gerry Keeling announced at the IMRF’s Quadrennial General Meeting in August that he was standing down from the Secretariat, delegates bade him farewell with a standing ovation - a spontaneous testament to the character of the man, and to what he has achieved. Indeed it might be said that, in some ways, Gerry has been the IMRF. As our Chairman of Trustees remarked, establishing this organisation was no easy task - but Gerry took it on, and succeeded.

If we thought he was actually going, he would be missed indeed!

But, happily, Gerry remains with us as the IMRF’s first Honorary Member. We can be sure that that Irish engineer’s mix of loquacity and enthusiasm will continue to inform what the IMRF stands for and achieves. [He’s started already!

See ‘SAR Matters’ on page 5: Ed.]

Merchant seamen among our readership will probably be familiar with the old barb that if ship’s engineers had long necks there would be no need for deck officers at all. Well: in establishing the IMRF Gerry had a long neck. He was forever busy in the engine room and he had a clear view of where he was going!

Gerry was born in the seaside Irish town of Wexford and ‘grew up in boats’, as the saying is, eventually qualifying as a marine engineer.

His sea time was in cargo ships and passenger ferries. Then he joined the Irish Sea Fisheries Board as a surveyor, focusing on machinery and electronics aboard new-builds & refits. He moved into training, and helped develop and run a mobile training unit, delivering courses in Ireland’s fishing communities.

With the decline of the fishing industry, Gerry moved into electronics, setting up Texas Instruments’ industrial controls division in Dublin and working for Douglas Electronics as development director. He then set up his own company, working as an electronics contractor through the late 1980s & the 90s.

Gerry was also a volunteer member of an Irish Coast Guard cliff rescue team and, later, boat

News from the IMRF Secretariat Gerry’s stepping down from the Secretariat obviously necessitates some changes in the way it works in support of the IMRF Membership, and the Trustees are reviewing the strategy accordingly.

In the meantime the Secretariat will be led by Ann Laing, in her principal role as Membership Secretary, and David Jardine-Smith; ably supported by Jill Greenlees, IMRF’s accountant.

Mr Keeling in typical pose, mocking a former deck officer...

crew. He qualified as an Advanced Power Boat Instructor and engaged in several powerboat and personal watercraft training schemes. He also helped establish an inshore lifeboat in his home town, Wexford.

In 1999 Gerry spotted an advert for the post of RNLI Deputy Divisional Engineer for Ireland and - with the ever-vital support of his wife, Kathleen - his career took a new direction.

In 2002 he was seconded to RNLI HQ as international development manager. The job included running the ILF secretariat, which in those days basically meant representing ILF at the IMO and organising the quadrennial International Lifeboat Conference. He was immediately tasked with organising the 2003 conference in Cape Town, to consider proposals for the ILF’s restructuring.

The conference agreed to establish the ILF as an independent charity, subsequently renamed the IMRF at the first World Maritime Rescue Congress in 2007. Gerry left the RNLI in 2006, to work full-time on the IMRF’s ever-growing and complex workload.

Then, at the end of 2009, we nearly lost him: Gerry suffered a brain haemorrhage. He slowly returned to work, helping to organise the IMRF’s first mass rescue conference in 2010 and, of course, the 2011 Congress in Shanghai tasks he undertook with his usual passion and commitment. But it was clear that he needed to slow down a bit from ‘full sea speed’.

So: thank you, Gerry. Now: on to the next chapter..?

Responding to the Membership’s wishes, an early action on the Secretariat has been to review and improve our communications. As a result, we will be recruiting (using existing financial resources) a fourth part-time team member to act as our information systems manager, with particular emphasis on ensuring that the IMRF website - www.internationalmaritime-rescue.org - remains clear, current and functional.

We cannot do everything overnight, but you should soon see progress once more!

IMRF Asia-Pacific Regional Centre Through the generosity of the Chinese th Government, and in honour of the 60 anniversary of IMRF Members China Rescue and Salvage, a new Regional Centre for the IMRF has been opened in Shanghai.

The IMRF’s Trustees - of whom China Rescue and Salvage’s Capt Song Jiahui is one - are now determining the strategy for the best use of this excellent new facility in the AsiaPacific region.

Details in future editions of LIFE LINE!

Weng Mengyong, Vice Minister of Transport of the People’s Republic of China, and Efthimios Mitropoulos, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization, applaud the opening of the IMRF’s new Centre page 9

LIFE LINE

October 2011

Need to talk...?

Michael Vlasto, Chairman, bids farewell to Sip Wiebenga at Sip’s last IMRF Trustee meeting, in Shanghai

This is the Icom M1 Euro V handheld VHF radio - very compact, easy to use, and designed to be waterproof even if submerged by one metre for 30 minutes: enough to cope with very harsh marine SAR conditions.

The radio has a 5 watt lithium ion battery (so does not have to be fully discharged before recharging) and it comes with a free-standing battery charger. And - in this special IMRF deal - there’s a spare battery too.

Two retirements It may be a matter of debate whether SAR people can ever really retire (it gets into your blood, somehow) - but Sip Wiebenga is at least giving it a try, after many years as Director of the Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution (KNRM) and in international SAR development. His old friend and fellow IMRF Trustee, Hamish McDonald, writes: “Sip is very much a practical hands-on person who adapted to the needs of a Director’s role having many differing demands. He used his people skills to great effect both for operational management and fund raising.

He was a great believer in the potential of IMRF to deliver its aims and objects of increasing the potential for saving lives on the world’s waters. He always was eager to assist in any way he could to add effort and value to any IMRF tasking that he felt fell within his scope.”

As Michael Vlasto writes in his remarks on page 3, we all wish Sip and Marina a very happy retirement - although we wonder if the well-deserved award of IMRF Honorary Membership might not prove a temptation...?

Another old friend of the IMRF is also swallowing the anchor. As announced in our last edition, Ev Tucker - a former IMRF Council member - has handed over his US Coast Guard Auxiliary duties, as head of International Affairs and the Interpreter Corps, to John Cooper.

Happy retirement, Ev!

So: what is the deal? Have the IMRF decided to open a sales division...?

Not at all: this is simply an example of the IMRF doing what it is meant to do - facilitating beneficial links of all kinds between maritime SAR services worldwide.

The radios are a gift from the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (the MCA - an IMRF Member). The MCA are replacing the handhelds used by the Coastguard Rescue Service: the volunteers who support Her Majesty’s Coastguard by providing coastal search and cliff & mud rescue services. The MCA have very generously made available 100 reconditioned units, now surplus to their own requirement, for the IMRF to distribute to developing SAR services around the world.

Necessary conditions of the gift are that these units may only be used for maritime safety or training projects outside the UK and in accordance with local regulations; they may not be re-sold; and the MCA cannot be held responsible for them in any way henceforward.

If you are an IMRF Member and would like to apply for some of these units, or to suggest where they might be used (in accordance with the limitations mentioned above) please email d.jardinesmith@international-maritime-rescue.org.

Please state how many radios you would like and what use they would be put to. Units will be allocated according to demand and need, post-paid.

And finally...

We hope that you have found this issue of LIFE LINE informative and interesting. We know that there is much more going on among IMRF‟s membership that could be reported here, to the benefit of all - but we rely on you, the reader, to tell us about it! LIFE LINE and the IMRF website need you to provide their contents - your news, your projects, your events, your ideas, your lessons learned.

We also need your pictures, please: good quality pictures (more than 250 kB, if possible) of your SAR units - boats, ships, aircraft, RCCs etc. These will be used in LIFE LINE and on the website - but are also needed for presentations and to accompany press articles about the IMRF and its worldwide work.

Please send articles and pictures (or links to them, with formal permission for them to be used for IMRF purposes) to news@international-maritime-rescue.org.

Let’s spread the word, for the benefit of all at risk on the world’s waters.

LIFE LINE page 10