LIFELINE October 2012 - English

The International Maritime Rescue Federation is a registered company limited by guarantee in the United Kingdom

and registered as a charity in England and Wales

Patron: Efthimios E. Mitropoulos, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization, 2004-2011

Registered office: IMRF West Quay Road Poole BH15 1HZ United Kingdom Company Registration Number: 4852596 Charity Registration Number: 1100883

www.international-maritime-rescue.org

LLIIFFEE LLIINNEE

The Newsletter of the International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF)

News… Experience… Ideas… Information… Development…

In this issue:

IMRF Membership, and Members Assisting Members

The IMRF’s Asia Pacific Regional Centre

Focus on the Swedish Sea Rescue Society and Royal Canadian Marine Search And Rescue

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution and international development

News from South Africa, Cape Verde, The Gambia, and Bulgaria

and more!

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December 2010

December 2010

December 2010

December 2010

December 2010

December 2010

December 2010

December 2010

December 2010

December 2010

December 2010

December 2010

December 2010

December 2010

December 2010

December 2010

December 2010

December 2010

IMRF Membership Special Edition

Synergy – from the Greek for ‘working together’ – has been described as ‘the creation of a whole that is

greater than the sum of its parts’. IMRF Membership is all about synergy, about sharing and supporting:

sharing experience, supporting SAR around the world.

IMRF Members are organisations large and small, old and new. Many have been providing maritime search

and rescue services for many years; some are new to the work. Many provide maritime SAR units; others,

SAR aircraft; others coordinate SAR: some do more than one of these things. Some Members are

Government organisations; others are non-governmental, providing SAR services in various voluntary ways.

Some Members do not yet provide SAR services, but aspire to do so. Others act in various supporting roles.

Together, they form a worldwide network. The IMRF links them, sometimes representing them on the

international stage; always ready to help them to help each other. Our Members are our ‘parts’, and our

Members working together, through the IMRF, produce a greater whole.

Synergy. It’s what the IMRF’s all about!

LLIIFFEE LLIINNEE OOccttoobbeerr 22001122

page 2

Editorial

Welcome to the October edition of your newsletter: a

‘special’ edition, focussing on IMRF membership. Every

edition of LIFE LINE is about our Members – but this

one is especially so! You will find articles here on what

IMRF membership means, for organisations who are

already Members; for those who might be; and for those

whose lives we are trying to help save...

In this edition we also begin a new series of articles,

focussing on particular IMRF Members. I hope you will

enjoy reading about them – and I hope that you will then

contribute to the series, so that we can read about you!

It’s always interesting to hear what others are doing in

SAR and how they are doing it. But what is most useful

in the IMRF context is the opportunity to learn from our

colleagues. If an idea works in Sweden or Canada or

Bangladesh, will it work in our part of the world too? It

may be unlikely that there will be a direct ‘read-across’,

but good ideas grow from seeds; and seeds blow on

winds from all sorts of directions!

I hope that all IMRF Members will send in articles for the

new Focus series. And please do not be concerned that

your story might not be all about success, as the two we

feature in this edition might seem to be! Yes: the

Swedish Sea Rescue Society and Royal Canadian

Marine SAR have had major successes in building up

their services in recent years. But I’m sure our

colleagues in those organisations would be the first to

agree that, sometimes, things have been very hard too.

We all know that running a SAR organisation is no

easier than doing SAR itself: in some respects it can

seem harder. We also know that we can learn from

each other: the parts can build a better whole.

So: please tell us about yourselves; your equipment;

your training. And tell us too about your needs, if you

have them – how you would like to do SAR better, if

only you had the resources to do so.

For the Focus series will be about

needs as well as successes. We look

forward to hearing from you.

Dave Jardine-Smith

[email protected]

Contents

A special edition ................................. 1

Editorial ................................. 2

Dates for the Diary ................................. 2

IMRF membership: what’s in it for me? ....... 3

IMRF membership: the details .................... 4

Major Donors ................................. 4

Members Assisting Members .................... 5

Asia Pacific Regional Centre .................... 5

SAR Matters ................................. 6

The Swedish Sea Rescue Society ....... 7

Royal Canadian Marine SAR ....... 8

The RNLI & international development ....... 9

News from South Africa .................... 10

News from Cape Verde and The Gambia ... 10

Loss of the Skagit ................................. 11

Mass rescue operations .................... 11

The JPO Vulpecula rescue .................... 11

News from Bulgaria ................................. 12

A word from the Chief Exec .................... 12

Send us your news & pictures ....... 12

Dates for the Diary

IMRF European Regional Meeting 18 October 2012

To be held in Reykjavik, Iceland. For details, please

contact [email protected]

RESCUE 2012 - Iceland 19-21 October 2012

Arranged by IMRF Members ICE-SAR, and to be held in

Reykjavik, Iceland. For details, see:

www.icesar.com/rescue

IMRF South American Regional Congress

30 October - 2 November 2012

To be held in Montevideo, Uruguay. For details, please

contact [email protected]

World Maritime Rescue Congress 1-4 June 2015

Advance notice of the IMRF’s next Congress and

Quadrennial General Meeting. Further details in due

course.

If you have a SAR event of international interest which

you would like to see listed here, please send the

details to [email protected]


page 3

would say that he fully

understands the ways

of the sea? – and a

large organisation can

learn from its smaller

colleagues just as the

smaller and newer

organisations can

learn from those who

have been in the SAR

game for longer.

And it’s not just about sharing ideas.

Equipment passes from hand to hand.

Whether it’s a boat or a radio or

almost anything else we need in

maritime SAR, if it’s superseded in

one part of the world it can often go

on to continue to do lifesaving work in

another.

The IMRF helps establish all these

networks of sharing. We facilitate

contacts, whether bilateral or multi-

lateral, in many ways; not least

through our quadrennial World

Maritime Rescue Congress, a premier

event in global SAR; and through our

Members Assisting Members scheme:

see the article on page 5.

Mutual assistance may be truly global,

but it can also be regional. The IMRF

divides its areas of operations into

maritime regions, each with a regional

coordinator to assist Members within

it. One of the seven Trustees on the

IMRF’s Board acts as a mentor to

each regional coordinator, so that the

line of communication between the

‘front line’ and the Board is always

short. Ensuring good communications

between the IMRF’s directors and our

IMRF Membership: what’s in it for me?

Let’s face it: in these difficult times we

all have to ask ourselves that selfish-

sounding question; especially if we are

spending some of a SAR

organisation’s hard-earned funds. So:

what benefits will your organisation

gain from IMRF membership? What

justifies the membership fee?

Well, there are many answers to that

question. In no particular order, here

are some of them.

As an international non-governmental

organisation, the IMRF has been

awarded consultative status at the

International Maritime Organization,

the IMO: the UN body responsible for

international shipping, including

maritime search and rescue.

We represent the world’s maritime

SAR community in that important

forum and in others associated with it,

such as the Joint Working Group on

SAR that the IMO runs in partnership

with the International Civil Aviation

Organization, and which has editorial

responsibility for the International

Aeronautical and Maritime Search and

Rescue Manual: the IAMSAR Manual;

the ‘instruction manual’ for the global

SAR system. IMRF Membership gets

you a seat at the UN table!

Then there’s the synergy we talked

about on page one – working together

to make SAR response better overall.

We share information and

experience; we share lifesaving

ideas, tips and technologies,

operating procedures, training

programmes, and lessons

learned. However big and

experienced a Member

organisation is, it always has

more it can learn – for who

constituent Member organisations is

a primary focus for the IMRF.

Key to the essential business of

good internal communication – in

addition to conferences and direct

contacts (and, of course, this

newsletter!) – is the IMRF website:

www.international-maritime-rescue.org.

Members have access to the

password-protected parts of the site,

where a dynamic and expanding

library of information is available to

them.

This includes information on the

IMRF’s current projects, which are

aimed at enhancing SAR response

worldwide.

Members working together are

developing guidelines for the design

and equipping of rescue boats, and

the training of their crews. This is a

classic example of Members pooling

their experience and expertise for

the common good.

Similarly, Members are working

together on the IMRF’s mass rescue

operations project, seeking to

improve global response to incidents

in which large numbers of people

need to be rescued – the sort of

case which the IMO defines as

being beyond SAR services’ normal

capability (see page 11). A third

project, on water safety education, is

also getting under way.

‘What’s in it for me?’ A great deal!

IMRF Members gain directly from

their membership, but they

also contribute beyond their

local spheres to the IMRF’s

wider humanitarian aim:

preventing loss of life in

the world's waters.

Who wouldn’t want to be part

of that?!


page 4

IMRF Membership: the details

There are several different ways in

which you can be a Member of the

IMRF. Under our current constitution

there are five official ‘classes’:

Associate Member, Affiliate Member,

Full Member, Major Donor Full

Member, and Honorary Member. Here

are a few details.

Associate Membership is available to

any organisation, business or

individual with an interest in the

provision of maritime SAR or the

promotion of water safety.

Affiliate Members may be subsidiaries

of Full Members which provide

maritime SAR services; organisations

whose prime purpose is the promotion

of water safety; or any organisation

which is planning to provide a maritime

SAR service in the future. Affiliates and

Associates are both welcome to attend

IMRF general meetings, but have no

voting rights.

Full Members are the core of the

IMRF. These are organisations which

provide maritime SAR services by prior

agreement with the authority

responsible for SAR in their region (if

such an authority has been defined).

Full Members may attend general

meetings; may propose, second and

vote upon motions; and may nominate

and vote for IMRF Trustees.

Major Donor Full Membership is

available to the nine Full Members who

have contributed the greatest amount

of funds or services-in-kind in the four

year period before each IMRF

quadrennial general meeting. The

Major Donors nominate an additional

two Trustees.

The final category of current IMRF

membership is Honorary Membership,

which may be awarded to any

individual or organisation in recognition

of contributions made toward the

fulfilment of the IMRF’s objects.

All of the membership classes above

carry with them access rights to the

Members’ area of the IMRF website,

www.international-maritime-rescue.org,

and participation, where appropriate,

in IMRF events and projects.

We are planning to introduce another

membership category, that of

‘Supporter’. No privileges would

attach to this new class of

membership, and Supporters will not

have access to the Members’ area of

the website. But the new category will

be open to anyone who wishes to

support the IMRF’s work financially

for humanitarian reasons. The

minimum contribution suggested

would be €30 per annum.

With the exception of Honorary

Members, the main membership

classes pay fees according to the

their status and their organisation’s

annual turnover. The fee for

Associate Membership is currently

set at a minimum of €1000 per

annum. Affiliate Members are asked

to pay €110. Full Members’ rates are

in three bands, depending on

turnover: ‘small’ organisations pay

€400; ‘medium’ ones €1800; and

‘large’ organisations a minimum of

€4000. As the Major Donor concept

implies, additional contributions are

always welcome! (See ‘Major Donors’,

right.)

If you would like to know anything

more about IMRF membership, this is

the lady with all the answers: Ann

Laing, seen here at her desk in

Scotland. As well as running IMRF

Members the Maritime Rescue

Institute, based in Stonehaven, Ann

is the IMRF’s Membership Secretary.

She may be contacted at:

a.laing@international-maritime-

rescue.org

or on (tel) +44 (0)1569 765768 or

(fax) +44 (0)1569 765979

Major Donors

As described in the adjacent article,

the IMRF’s constitution allows for

‘Major Donor Full Members’ as one

of its membership categories. These

are Members who make significant

additional donations to the IMRF’s

work, either in cash or in kind.

All membership fees are valuable,

of course, and put to good use – but

the generosity of the Major Donors

has enabled us to undertake project

work and to support less well-off

Members in ways that otherwise we

could not have afforded.

While we hope to greatly expand

our income in future through

donations from non-Members and

the spread of Associate member-

ship in particular, the Major Donors

have been key to the success of the

IMRF’s early years as an

independent charity.

For constitutional reasons we

identify our Major Donors in four-

year periods leading up to our

quadrennial general meetings.

Currently they are:

the UK and Ireland’s Royal

National Lifeboat Institution;

China Rescue & Salvage;

the Swedish Sea Rescue Society;

the German Maritime SAR

Service;

the Maritime Rescue Institute,

Scotland; and

the Royal Netherlands Sea

Rescue Institution.

Our grateful thanks to them all!


page 5

Members Assisting Members

Members Assisting Members is the mutual aid scheme for

IMRF Member organisations – established at the Members’

request. It is a simple means of communicating capabilities

and needs among the IMRF membership. Sharing is what

the IMRF is all about, and the Members Assisting Members

scheme is a tool designed to facilitate the sharing of

resources and expertise among IMRF Members, whether

Full Member, Affiliate, or Associate organisations.

Full details of the scheme may be found in the Members’

Area of the IMRF website, www.international-maritime-

rescue.org. If you need help with logging in, or with the

scheme itself, please contact Wendy Webster, the IMRF’s

website manager, at w.webster@international-maritime-

rescue.org. (Readers are reminded that, to facilitate distribution of

this newsletter, there are no hyperlinks contained in it. Some email

systems dislike hyperlinks! Please copy and paste website or email

addresses into your browser or email contacts.)

On the Members

Assisting Members

webpage you will find a

tutorial video which

explains how the

scheme works: how

you can post offers and

request specific

assistance; and how

you can view and

manage your posts.

There’s also a Quick

Guide and a useful

flow chart.

If you are already using

the scheme, or if you

have suggestions for

improving it, please let

us know what you think

by filling in the short

questionnaire to be

found at the foot of the

webpage.

If you are not yet using the scheme then please do so. You,

the Members, asked us to provide it – but only you, the

Members, can really make it work!

Remember too that it works both ways. It is there to help

Members offer help as well as to ask for it. For example, one

Member might need second-hand equipment. Another may

be able to provide it. Economies of scale can be achieved by

combined ordering. Assistance with training or safety

campaigns or fundraising initiatives can be asked for and

given. There are many ways in which those in the maritime

SAR world can help each other – to the benefit of everyone

at risk in the world’s waters.

Members Assisting Members is one way. Why not visit the

website now and make a post...?

Asia Pacific Regional Centre

19 September 2012 marked the commencement of

operations at the IMRF’s new Asia Pacific Regional

Centre (APRC). The centre, located at China Rescue

and Salvage’s state-of-the-art Dong Hai Rescue Bureau

in Shanghai, will greatly enhance IMRF capability to

communicate with and assist maritime rescue

organisations throughout this busy region.

Capt Song Jiahui, Bruce Reid and Mr Wang Zheng Liang,

Director General of China Rescue and Salvage, join in the

APRC opening ceremony

World Health Organisation statistics show that some

380,000 people drown each year globally, with almost

half of these deaths occurring within the Asia-Pacific

region. With these types of numbers the need for a

direct presence in the region has become a priority for

the IMRF. Following last year’s successful World

Maritime Rescue Congress in Shanghai, the initiative

gained momentum: IMRF Members China Rescue and

Salvage have kindly provided office space within the

Dong Hai facility, plus management support and staff.

IMRF’s new CEO Bruce Reid remarked that “This is an

exciting international initiative for the IMRF, in

partnership with China Rescue and Salvage. We have

identified 38 countries within the region who do not have

IMRF member organisations. Many of these countries

and groups would benefit from the support and

collaboration we provide.”

Speaking at the launch ceremony, Capt Song Jiahui,

IMRF Trustee and Transportation Safety Secretary of

the People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of Transport,

pointed out that “one of the earliest recorded instances

of a humanitarian rescue service anywhere in the world

was close to the location of the new APRC, along the

banks of the Yangtze River. It is appropriate that this

new centre will continue this noble humanitarian

mission, providing lifesaving assistance to those in

trouble on the waters of the region.”

The APRC will be managed by the IMRF’s former CEO,

Gerry Keeling. Mr Zhang Ron Jung, Deputy Director of

the Dong Hai Rescue Bureau, will act as deputy

manager, and the new centre will be staffed by two

English-speaking CRS personnel on secondment to the

IMRF, Mr Gu Yiming and Ms Qiu Jing.


page 6

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.

Please see previous editions of LIFE LINE – available on

the website, www.international-maritime-rescue.org – for

earlier discussions. Comment and/or new items for

discussion should be emailed to news@international-

maritime-rescue.org.

In our last edition the IMRF’s former Chief Executive, Gerry

Keeling, considered the results of our mass rescue

conference in Gothenburg in June. He intended to return to

the mass rescue subject in this issue, to look at some of the

major challenges and some proposals for remedial action.

But other work (see page 5!) has delayed Gerry’s second

article: we will feature it in a future LIFE LINE.

In this edition – with IMRF Membership very much in mind –

we contrast two apparently very different stories from

around the world.

On 31 August a traditional pirogue (a flat-bottomed boat

used by fishermen and for transport) capsized a few

minutes after setting off for Kassa Island from Conakry, the

capital of Guinea.

The pirogue was meant to carry about 20 people, but there

were reported to have been 58 aboard, many of them

women and children. The boat was also carrying bags of

cement and flour. It appears that her crew was

inexperienced, and strong winds swept her onto rocks.

27 people survived, rescued by fishermen and the local

security forces. A search continued all night, but hopes of

finding any more people alive had faded by morning. "We

are continuing the search without hope of finding survivors,

that means about 30 are already dead," rescue official

Lanfia Camara told AFP. "It is unthinkable that we could

find a survivor in the water after more than 15 hours without

rescue. None of the passengers were wearing a life vest

when they boarded."

A hospital doctor confirmed that those recovered dead had

drowned, “and the survivors are suffering more or less from

trauma and fear.” Scores of weeping family members

crowded the morgue and hospital for news of their loved

ones, the AFP journalist said.

It’s a tragic story – and one which should be more familiar

than it is. But disasters such as this are sometimes

overlooked by the world’s press.

Why be an IMRF Member? Well; for one thing, we are

determined not to overlook such tragic wastes of life on

the world’s waters. SAR, of course, is only part of the

story: there is much to be done to improve safety first; to

prevent such accidents ever happening. There are

common themes: overloading, lack of crew training, lack

of safety equipment. The IMRF strongly supports the work

being done on accident prevention and mitigation. But

SAR is the final part of the picture; and we are here to

help support SAR development around the world.

The second story comes from the Caribbean – but, rather

like the terrible tale from Guinea, its essentials could have

come from many places. The following was written by a

new recruit to Virgin Islands Search And Rescue (VISAR):

“You want to give something back to the community and

you've heard of this organisation of volunteers that give

their time willingly to search for and rescue human beings

at risk. So you pop up at the base one Monday evening,

where they talk about what happened the previous week

and they plan the week ahead. Somebody points out that

there's a new face in the room, and they all give you a

warm welcome. Then you're given a log with skills you

need to develop and a “Good Luck!”.

“You keep going every Monday to the meetings and you

start your training. You meet the most diverse people, but

with something in common that unites them and makes

them strong: they are here to save lives. You learn their

names, they learn yours. You hear tons of anecdotes;

happy ones but also others not so much. And then you

realise that they are also there to support each other,

knowing that they can count on the person at their side.

“Becoming a crew member scares you a bit but you keep

pushing yourself through that log, thanks to the support of

the other trainees who are going through the same mixed

emotions, but also from the more experienced helms,

crew members and coordinators. By now you enjoy going

out on Spirit, you feel a bit more comfortable wearing the

gear and getting wet in it. You put yourself through

controlled simulated situations, and you also build shared

moments with those people next to you.

“You know that that day will come where you get that last

sign-off in the log and you receive the blue T-shirt at the

Monday meeting, together with a big round of applause

from your peers. But you know you can already feel proud

of yourself for being part of this great organisation of

simple human beings, trying as hard as they can to

pursue the highest objective in life: to save lives.”

Maximiliano Ferrero writes of the shared aims and

support within VISAR; but he could equally well have

been describing the IMRF. Worldwide, Maximiliano’s

words are the key ones: ‘training ... experience ... support

... diverse people, but with something that unites them:

they are here to save lives.’

SAR is indeed a high objective: and IMRF Members do

whatever they can to attain it, and to help others to do so

too.


page 7

The craft in the SSRS fleet include the following classes.

All are capable of 34

knots.

The hi-tech, 30-

tonne Rausing class

can cope with

extreme conditions,

and is equipped with

ultraviolet equipment

for night searches.

(Length: 20m; beam:

5.1m; draught: 0.9m.)

The 12-metre, 13-

tonne Victoria class

was developed by

the SSRS’s own

engineers and has

achieved worldwide

recognition. (Beam:

4.2m; draught: 0.7m.)

The Gunnel Larsson

class is an 8-metre

open rescue vessel,

used mainly for

inshore rescue work.

(Draught: 1.6m; weight:

2.7 tonnes.)

And the Rescue-

runner is a specially

made scooter. While

driving, the rider can

pick up a person in the water within a few seconds. The

Rescuerunner is also a key component in the SSRS’s

ongoing research in mass rescue at sea. (Length: 3.6m;

beam: 1.5m; draught: 0.1-0.3m; weight: 350 kg.)

Led by IMRF Trustee Rolf Westerström, the SSRS is

very much accustomed to thinking globally. For example,

in July Thore Hagman and Mattias Wengelin of the

SSRS conducted the first SAR Systems course within the

new Maritime Safety and Environmental Administration

programme at the World Maritime University.

The students – from 19 different countries – gave an in-

depth presentation of their respective SAR systems as

part of their exams, including

reflections on their fulfilment of

international legislation and a

comparison with the IAMSAR

manual.

An overview and analysis of this

material will be presented to the

IMRF in due course.

Member Focus: the Swedish Sea

Rescue Society

Long-time IMRF Member the Swedish Sea Rescue Society

(see www.sjoraddning.se) is a non-governmental institution

run on a voluntary basis. It operates on the major Swedish

lakes as well as at sea, and carries out about 70% of all

rescues in Swedish waters. About 95% of the distress calls

the SSRS respond to are from pleasure craft.

The Society was founded in 1907, following severe storms

in 1903 which revealed short-comings in Sweden’s marine

rescue capability. The Society’s function has always been

that of saving lives at sea. This task is firmly supported on

three pillars: SAR operations, accident prevention, and a

firm commitment to research and development.

The SSRS is

financed by

membership fees

and donations, and

by voluntary work. In

recent years it has

doubled the number

of its sea rescue

stations; has tripled

the number of

rescue personnel

available; and has

built 70 new rescue

craft. It now has

67 rescue stations

and 160 high-speed

rescue vessels. The

SSRS also operates fourteen hovercraft: over the winter

much of the water it works on is frozen...

The recent expansion has enabled the SSRS to meet its

goal of getting under way in 15 minutes or less from the

time an alarm is received. The volunteer crews – about

1,800 of them – live close to their stations and conduct

training several times a month. They are available to

respond at any time of day or night, whatever the weather.

Altogether they launch about 7,000 times each year.

The large degree of voluntary work enables the Society to

manage with a small administration, and much of the cost

of its normal activities is covered by its membership fees.

(The Society receives no government funding.)

The SSRS has attracted many of its 80,000 members by

offering them a preventative maritime assistance service as

well as the opportunity to support the lifeboat service. The

idea is that a member can make a call for assistance before

a full-scale emergency develops. This way a member can

receive help in the event of engine failure or a damaged

rudder, say, even if no-one is in immediate danger, thus

preventing a mishap becoming a crisis. Through reciprocal

arrangements, members can receive similar help in

Norway, Denmark, Finland and the Åland islands.


page 8

Member Focus: Royal Canadian

Marine Search & Rescue

The Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary comprises five

autonomous regional rescue organisations. That covering

the Pacific coast has recently changed its name to Royal

Canadian Marine Search & Rescue: RCM-SAR.

RCM-SAR has 46 stations which, working with the

Canadian Coast Guard and other agencies, cover almost

29,000km of coastline (longer than that of the entire United

States); much of it a maze of islands and fjords. The

stations are almost all community-based with dedicated

rescue boats, operated by over 1,000 volunteers on call

around the clock and conducting over 800 rescues a year.

RCM-SAR have developed a high level of training,

including a world-first small rescue vessel simulator, and

are proud of their crews’ professionalism: “Volunteer

Marine Rescue Crews, Unpaid Professionals”.

Over the last 15 years the fleet too has developed quickly

from an operational model using pleasure or commercial

vessels to a dedicated fleet of purpose-built fast rescue

craft. Owner/operator vessels are now only used where

conditions do not allow for anything else, or as a backup

resource. For much of this period the vessel plan was

based on the Coast Guard model of small, fast, rigid-hull

inflatables; but these have now evolved into aluminium

construction and T-Top designs. Thanks to effective

fundraising and provincial support, RCM-SAR have been

able to build up a capable and reliable fleet in a short

period of time.

Here we see

examples of the 7

to 8 metre T-Top

and cabin RHIBs

(the open delta

console lay-out is

also used). These

have been the

workhorses of the

fleet for the last

decade.

However, RCM-

SAR has always

been proactive in looking around the world and identifying

best practices for training, tasking, equipment and vessel

design. In doing so they have noted as best practice the

development of specially designed and standardised fleets.

In designing their own vessels, RCM-SAR looked to

partners around the world to assist and are now in the early

stages of a fleet renewal programme which will eventually

see all their vessels replaced by a standard class

consistent with the best practices of marine SAR

organizations globally.

The first result of the new design approach is the Type 2

Falkins Class – a 33-foot, aluminium, diesel jet -powered,

rollover-capable, 40-knot fast rescue craft. The first in the

class was launched in 2010 (see LIFE LINE, December

2010). Four more have followed and another five are

planned. The class is reported to have received “rave

reviews”! A 12-metre Type 3 is also in service and being

evaluated to determine the requirements for further

vessels in this category.

In the meantime a standardized outboard-powered RHIB

has also been designed and the first vessel is under

construction. While it incorporates the proven and

reliable performance of the existing RHIBs, it also

incorporates leading-edge rescue craft design in a shock

mitigating platform for the entire crew station, a

significant safety improvement – and another first in

rescue vessel technology for Canada.

RCM-SAR have also been innovative in terms of

governance, on-line record-keeping – and training. Their

SAR Crew Manual standardised and greatly improved

training, for example; and in 2009 the first students

began taking classes in SARNAV: an advanced

simulator that immerses crews in realistic situations

where they can regularly and safely practice decision-

making, rescue planning, helm control, communications,

and navigation in worst-case scenarios. A training centre

(with fund-raising possibilities) and online and distance

learning packages are planned.

In summary, RCM-SAR President Randy Strandt notes

that “we spent 30 years watching, observing, and

learning from the best and, while this process will never

end, we can finally say that we are now also in a place

where others around the country and the world look to us

for guidance and ideas.” More at rcmsar.com.


page 9

The RNLI and international development

IMRF Member the Royal National Lifeboat Institution

(RNLI) shares its lifesaving expertise with developing

countries in need of help; and reports on this work here.

Overall, drowning claims around 1.2 million lives globally

each year – that’s more than the number of people who

die from malaria.* In some countries, particularly in areas

of Asia, Africa and South America, drowning is the leading

cause of child death. Every loss is someone’s son or

someone’s daughter. But, despite the scale of the

problem, it is barely recognised: a hidden pandemic.

Most drownings happen in the world’s poorest countries,

which have either very limited lifesaving services or none

at all. Drowning is as preventable as most diseases, and

yet there is very little being done to tackle it. What is being

achieved is localised and ad hoc. Effective, scalable

programmes are urgently needed to help on a local level.

The RNLI is increasing its international work to try and

reduce this staggering loss of life by delivering training,

equipment and advice – whatever is needed – to save

lives. Many drownings happen at the coast, in large

bodies of water, or in floods – all environments in which

the RNLI has expertise in drowning prevention and can

offer help. The aim is to give people the means to help

themselves; trying to ensure that developing countries can

secure and sustain their own lifesaving services, so that

these services can grow organically and go on to save

thousands of lives using their own people and skills.

The RNLI are delivering programmes by working with key

local, national and international groups. They also work

with more developed SAR organisations, providing

training, equipment and consultancy. This overseas work

is funded by income donated specifically for international

programmes, and by profits from sales of consultancy,

equipment and training to SAR organisations in developed

countries. Programmes ranging from delivering lifeguard

training and swim survival training to selling former RNLI

lifeboats and providing SAR consultancy have already

been conducted in Bangladesh, Cameroon, Senegal,

India, Brazil, China, Canada and St Lucia.

*Figures for drowning are, at best, estimates: the statistical base

is very poor. The percentage lost in waters which may be seen as

within the IMRF’s remit is also very uncertain. But, whatever the

figure is, it is disgracefully large. (Ed.)

(pictures courtesy of the RNLI / Mike Lavis)

Bangladesh has one of the highest drowning rates in the

world: around 18,000 Bangladeshi children drown each

year. But hundreds of lives could be saved there every

year now that the country’s first lifesaving club has been

set up with the help of the RNLI.

As reported in LIFE LINE in April, RNLI lifeguard trainers

have delivered a comprehensive lifeguard training

programme to 15 Bangladeshi volunteers, and a ‘train the

trainer’ course, so that the volunteers can go on to teach

the skills they have learned to others. They are already

using their newly-acquired skills to run the lifesaving club.

And within days of completing their RNLI training they had

saved their first life.

In August 2012, lifesaving representatives from Senegal,

Cameroon, Uganda, Bangladesh, India, Thailand,

Mauritius and the Philippines arrived in the UK for an

intensive two-week course, learning vital skills with the

RNLI to help develop their lifesaving organisations and

save more lives from drowning.

The ‘Future Leaders in Lifesaving’ course was designed

to equip them with skills to run effective lifesaving services

in their home countries. They learnt how to manage and

develop their own organisations, covering subjects such

as causes of drowning, the role of a lifeguard, equipment

needed to run a lifesaving service, practical lifesaving

skills, risk assessments, writing training programmes, and

how to run safety education initiatives – all of this tailored

to help them apply it to their specific environments. They

were based at the RNLI College, where the charity’s

volunteer lifeboat crews and lifeguards train.

New and developing lifesaving organisations can struggle

to implement effective coastal drowning prevention

strategies due to limited training and resources. The RNLI

and the International Drowning Research Centre,

Bangladesh, have developed the International Beach

Lifeguard Instructor Manual, specifically designed for use

in areas where specialist equipment and facilities are

unavailable. The Manual provides a simple toolkit for

lifeguard trainers to refer to, and accompanies a basic

student manual and optional teaching aids. It was trialled

during the Future Leaders in Lifesaving course, and will be

generally available later this year.

To find out more about the RNLI’s international

development work, visit www.rnli.org/international.

http://www.rnli.org/international


page 10

The NSRI is also a member of the

specialist Whale Disentanglement

Network; volunteers trained to free

whales that periodically get trapped

by ropes and buoys during the time

that they spend off the South African

coast from late winter through

summer.

On 18 July the Network received their

first call of the season, when the

fishing boat Biskop reported a whale

caught up off Cape Point.

The NSRI station in Simonstown

dispatched their rigid inflatable Eddie

Beaumont II to investigate, and the

crew was able to confirm that a 9

metre humpback, a young adult, was

indeed entangled in rope and three

flotation buoys.

Network experts with specialist

equipment were then taken offshore

by Simonstown’s Spirit of Safmarine

III. The whale’s movement was

severely restricted by the rope and,

although clearly uncomfortable, it was

“reasonably cooperative” as the team

cut it free. It then swam off strongly.

Saving lives on the world’s waters –

and not just human ones!

News from South Africa

South Africa’s National Sea Rescue

Institute (NSRI) has a proactive

educational arm called the

WaterWise Academy. They have six

instructors around the country who

tailor their lessons to help children

between the ages of 9 and 14 to

avoid trouble when they are in or near

water.

Since its inception in 2006 the

WaterWise Academy has taught over

200,000 under-privileged children, in

the safety of their classrooms, how to

avoid dangerous situations on the

beach, rivers and dams; what to do in

an emergency; who to call and how to

do bystander CPR.

The WaterWise Academy’s most

recent achievement is a video

explaining how to avoid rip currents,

which are the major cause of

drowning on South Africa’s east

coast.

The video and a graphic (see below)

teach children, and their parents,

what to look for and how to react

should they be caught in a rip.

You can watch the video by pasting

this url into your search engine:

https://vimeo.com/47435717.

News from Cape Verde and Gambia

IMRF Trustee Udo Fox and regional

coordinator Mohammed Drissi have

been assisting the IMO by

undertaking needs assessment

missions to St Vincent, Cape Verde,

in June, and Banjul, The Gambia, in

August.

The visits were made to strengthen

the relationships between the

Regional MRCC in Rabat, Morocco

(where Mohammed Drissi is Chef de

Bureau, SAR National) and the

Associated MRCCs in the North-

West African SAR Region; to identify

areas of assistance on SAR facility

management; and in preparation for

the second meeting of the Regional

SAR Committee, to be held 25-27

September.

Vessel Traffic Service Centre & MRCC

Mindelo, Cape Verde (above); and a

briefing at Bacau lifeboat station, The

Gambia (below)

As the assessors noted: “Improving

SAR capabilities and other maritime

services is foremost a matter of

capacity building at the management

and operational level, allowing

effective and efficient use to be made

of limited resources.”

As always, SAR people can help

each other: Morocco has generously

offered to host and run seminars on

SAR administration & management

and on search planning and mission

coordination for North & West African

regional colleagues in Agadir in

January.


page 11

Loss of the Skagit

On 18 July the ferry Skagit capsized

in bad weather and subsequently

sank while on passage from Dar es

Salaam, Tanzania, to Zanzibar. She

had about 290 people aboard. Half of

them died. Her loss follows that of the

Spice Islander in the same waters in

September last year. More than 200

lives were lost in that disaster.

Once again it appears from the news

reports that unsafe operations were

responsible for the accident – an

unsuitable vessel, at sea in

conditions beyond her capability,

overcrowded and with a poorly

trained crew. Survivors are reported

to have said that they received no

emergency instructions, and that

there was only one exit from the

cabin, so that many passengers were

trapped below.

It can be said that the best way to

deal with the problem of mass rescue

operations is to avoid having to

conduct them at all. That is facile, of

course: accidents happen, no matter

how well prepared we are. But it is

also true to say that mass rescue

should not be considered in isolation.

Disasters like the loss of the Skagit

keep on happening, and they should

not. They are preventable.

While passenger shipping safety is

not a part of the IMRF’s remit, we

certainly support all the efforts being

made to improve it, whether at the

IMO as regards international shipping

or in the various fora in which

domestic shipping safety is being

addressed.

Mass Rescue Operations

Following our two successful Gothen-

burg conferences, in 2010 and earlier

this year, and the work done at the

World Maritime Rescue Congress in

2011, the IMRF’s mass rescue

operations project is moving on to its

next stages.

Our aims are to share experience and

initiatives so as to improve the

response to mass rescue incidents

wherever they may occur in the world.

Our objectives are to provide an

international focus on mass rescue at

or by sea, and a forum for discussion;

to identify specific problems which

would benefit from further research &

development; to identify potential

amendments to international

regulation and guidance; and to

compile and host a dynamic, web-

based library of practical data.

To these ends we will continue to

raise awareness – particularly of the

need to plan. We will draw on IMRF

Member expertise to build the library

of generic guidance, plans, and

standard operating procedures, and

to help audit progress. We will

conduct further conferences and

workshops. And we will report to the

IMO as appropriate.

There’s a lot to do!

Early work will be on how best to

handle mass rescue operations (and,

indeed, SAR generally) in ‘remote

areas’, where there are few, if any,

SAR facilities. We will be seeing if we

can improve the current guidance on

on-scene coordination. We will also

work with the IMO and others to

improve the ability of ships and other

units to recover people from survival

craft or from the water, beginning with

a review of the IMO’s Guide to

Recovery Techniques (which IMRF

Members drafted in the first instance.)

The JPO Vulpecula

Rescue

On 21 June the Liberian-flagged,

German-owned container ship JPO

Vulpecula rescued 27 migrants

whose boat had capsized in heavy

seas between Indonesia and

Australia. There had probably been

200 aboard when the accident

happened. 109 were saved in total:

four by another merchant ship, the

Cape Oceania; the rest by two

Australian border protection vessels.

After telephone distress calls were

received from the boat, an Australian

aircraft discovered her 110 miles

north of Christmas Island.

Responding to a mayday relay, JPO

Vulpecula was the first vessel to

arrive at the scene. “We did our best,”

said Capt Eric Bilango, “But the

weather was very, very rough.” Over

three gruelling hours the huge

container ship’s crew managed to pull

the 27 Afghan and Pakistani

survivors aboard.

“It is our duty,” said Capt Bilango.


page 12

LLIIFFEE LLIINNEE

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 [email protected].

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

Bruce’s second day

in Scotland.

When he arrived at

the IMRF’s office in

Stonehaven the day

before, the sky had

been blue and the

winds light...

Welcome aboard!

organisations and guaranteed a level

of financial support for the three years

of the agreement.

Before this, support from Government

for the primary SAR service provided

by Coastguard was restricted to a

$50,000 contribution, plus a small level

of direct fuel cost recovery and some

funding through the National Lottery.

The agreement has provided just over

$2m per annum, and has just been

renegotiated for the next three years.

Having a level of guaranteed financial

support annually allows time to plan

and with planning comes efficiency; the

ability to get things done in a structured

way. The “user pays” argument put

forward to justify the release of tax paid

by boaties to support the rescue of

boaties proved effective. And the

national collaboration of all the SAR

organisations provided an incredibly

strong lobby group.

It’s great to be on board at the IMRF

and I look forward to working closely

with you all as we continue to find

ways of working together to reduce the

loss of life on the worlds waters.

News from Bulgaria

On 21 July the much-esteemed

CEO of BULSAR (the volunteer

Bulgarian search and rescue

organisation, and IMRF Member)

celebrated his 75th

birthday.

In a ceremony in the Varna Town

Hall, Mr Kiril Jordanov, the

Mayor, awarded Captain Nick

Guerchev an honorary plaque

celebrating this anniversary.

The plaque was inscribed ‘Dear

Capt Nick, please accept our best

wishes and "keep her steady as

she goes"; from the BULSAR

team’.

And all Capt Nick’s friends in the

IMRF join in that sentiment!

A word from the Chief Exec

IMRF’s new CEO, Bruce Reid, writes:

Sustainable funding for SAR is

an on-going challenge for all of

our member organisations as

purse strings tighten during these

tough economic times.

In my first submission to the newsletter, I

thought I’d pass on some knowledge

gained in my previous role heading

Coastguard in New Zealand, which may

provide some food for thought.

In simple terms, in 2007 Coastguard

New Zealand (CNZ) was struggling for

funding. Investment was required in

training for the volunteers and to

upgrade an ageing fleet. But most of the

money coming into the organisation was

contestable and not guaranteed.

A proposal was put to Government for

some of the fuel tax paid by pleasure

boaties to be made available to SAR

organisations. The tax paid amounted to

millions of dollars; but at the time it was

going into the roads fund. A change in

legislation was required.

Through lobbying by the SAR sector led

by New Zealand Search and Rescue,

strongly supported by CNZ , the change

in legislation was achieved and just over

$8m NZD per annum was released into

the sector. The funds were managed

through Service Level Agreements with

the Government and the individual SAR

LIFELINE October 2012 - English

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