GEORGE NEWS - The Wilderness National Sea Rescue Institute Station 23 recently hosted a regional training exercise for all NSRI stations in the Southern Cape.

Participants represented all levels of crew from Plettenberg Bay, Knysna, Wilderness, Mossel Bay, Still Bay and Witsand NSRI stations.

According to Torsten Henschel from the Wilderness NSRI a total of 54 crew participated in the training exercise. Senior crew from Wilderness NSRI organised and managed the various aspects of training and exercises on the day. The training exercise consisted of 12 individual training exercises or scenarios, most of which were based on actual rescue experiences. Small groups of four to five completed each of the scenarios in rotation, with each exercise taking approximately 30 minutes. The simulated scenarios included:

• A simulated swift water (river) rescue using an infla-table stretcher and rope and pulley system.
• A rope ascent and descent rescue scenario.
• Distance rescue swim.
• Righting of a capsized inflatable boat in the water.
• Location of a submerged ‘body’ (dummy) in deep and dark water, applying various search techniques, followed by resuscitation techniques.
• Fault finding and starting of a stalled (artificially implan-ted faults) outboard motor in the water.
• Recovery of a vehicle (trailer used as simulation) from water, using a combination of winching and 4x4 driving techniques.
• Simulation of the rescue of 2 children from behind Kaaimans River waterfall.
• Rescue swim of a severely insured casualty using a backboard, harness and inflatable stretcher.
• Various navigation and rescue techniques and general knowledge theory tests or challenges.
• Simulated team rescue run, carrying a stretcher with severely injured casualty. The rope techniques and swift water rescue techniques were set up and trained under the leadership of Deon van Wyk and his capable team at Eden Municipality Fire and Rescue.

Henschel said they are grateful for this opportunity to build its own expertise and experience under their competent stewardship.
"Wilderness NSRI is grateful for the generous sponsorship of refreshments and supplies from all the sponsors which was ne-cessary for the long and exhausting day in cold water and under physically taxing conditions, associated with this training exercise," he added.


With the ‘casualty’ secured and stabilized, NSRI crew prepare to evacuate him during training in Kaaimans River gorge.