Boat Crew

Sea Rescue 1 with Chopper

Our area of responsibility is from Hastings Point in the north to Lennox Head in the south and 7 NM to sea. With Sydney Water Police authority the operating area may be extended depending on sea conditions and time of day.

The Boat section was established in 1980, with the inclusion of the local Air Sea Rescue squad, with a 14 ft jet rescue boat. A used 23 ft Haines SSS fibreglass vessel was purchased from Air Sea Rescue Tweed Heads an this vessel served the Rescue Squad for about 23 years with a number of motor changes and several sinkings.

In Nov 1999 we ordered a new purpose built vessel with money allocated by the Waterways Authority and topped up with funds from local resources. The vessel (Sea Rescue 1) was delivered in September 2000, at a cost $75,500.

Crew

We have currently 10 members who are on the call out list. The members are activated through a pager system and are on call 24/7. The crew consists of qualified skippers with Maritime Authority Coxswains or Master 5 certificates and deckhands trained within the organization. The crew are activated by a paging system and make their way directly to the rescue boat.

There are tasks that require different crewing numbers but generally the crew is a minimum of 3. They are on call 24/7 and must notify the skippers when they are indisposed.

Training

Training has many facets with routine maintenance being carried out before boat training commences. Training can consist of navigation, search and rescue, man overboard scenarios and yearly an exercise is conducted with all the marine rescue organizations from Wooli to Point Danger under the control of the Sydney Water Police. The Boat crew is trained by the Rescue Squad operating on Competency Based Training modules as per the requirement from the State Rescue Board. These modules include, boat handling, navigation, communications, and search and rescue procedures. After gaining the Advanced Crew requirement, training continues on to the Skipper 1, 2 and 3 levels.

Training consists of mostly hands-on but some theory is now required. Members wishing to join the Boat section need to be able to leave work immediately, live within about 5 minutes of the boat ramp, have a current a boating licence, be able to swim 100 metres, possess a current first aid certificate, be medically fit, and last but not least, be keen and recognise the danger of boating in extreme bad weather. Training is conducted the 1st Sunday of each month at 0800 hours and includes maintenance of the vessel and associated equipment. Exercises are conducted as required with the Marine Radio Base and units to our north and south.

Rescue Boat

Sea Rescue 1 was built by Bass Strait Boats of Bairnsdale, Vic. The vessel is 7.4 metres long, fibreglass construction and is powered by a 250HP Yanmar Turbo Diesel and was built to NSW 2C survey regulations.

Sea Rescue 1 is fitted out with all manner of safety equipment in accordance with the State Rescue Board policy on accreditation of rescue vessels and is supposedly unsinkable. The vessel is fitted with the latest tracking system which provides instant, accurate, real time electronic tracking of the rescue boat in all weathers, day or night. Its acquisition was jointly funded by the rescue squad, Mullumbimby Ex-Services Club and the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in 2006. The vessel is housed in the boat shed adjacent to the main boat ramp in Brunswick Heads.

This unit welcomes organizations that wish to visit the rescue boat, the main rescue truck and the Marine Radio Base. For any inquiries about visiting or joining Marine Rescue contact the Marine Radio Base on 6685 0148.

For information on joining click here