There was great excitement and high action off Kommetjie this morning as two NSRI Hout Bay boats took part in simulated man-over-board drills, a serious deck injury on a fishing boat, and the transfer of an injured fisherman to a rescue boat.
This was a joint exercise involving boats belonging to Oceana Brands and the NSRI Hout Bay.
Three scenarios were carried out with 20 crew onboard the FV Emerald Isle steel-hulled fishing vessel, who were being put through their paces. The Oceana vessel was manned by senior officers and skippers from the company’s whole fleet.
The day started at 7.45 am when Oceana Crew arrived at Hout Bay’s NSRI base for a presentation on search patterns. Two rescue dummies (called ‘Buster’ and ‘Larry’) were made up with life jackets and ‘Buster’ had a GPS tracking unit fixed to him. Both dummies were transferred to the FV Emerald Isle that sailed from Hout Bay at 9.30 am to the exercise area, north-west of Kommetjie, where ‘Buster’” and ‘Larry’ fell overboard..
Next the team was tested with a medical emergency onboard the FV Emerald Isle. This gave the fishing boats skipper, crew and the sea-rescue volunteers another scenario to practice working together.
Lyall Pringle, deputy Station Commander at Hout Bay NSRI, said the exercise was a great success and will hopefully be repeated soon.
“It’s great to be able to build a relationship with Oceana like this. They have set protocols to follow in an emergency, and while it’s well knowing theory, it’s this kind of practice that makes the drills second nature,” said Pringle.
“By working together we build a better bond and have the confidence that all parties know and have rehearsed how to respond should an emergency ever occur,” he said.
According to Oceana Brands MD, Gavin Rhodes Harrison, the company’s staff has been preparing for this session since the beginning of the year so there was great excitement and anticipation ahead of today. He also said Oceana had been involved in a number of exercises with the NSRI over the past few years and valued its partnership with the NSRI as it afforded employees and the Institute an opportunity to hone their skills and gather ‘learnings’ to be more proficient in a critical area of both operations.
He added that the company has a proud history of zero fatalities at sea over the past 10 years.
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