Letters to the Editor

Life Boat Rescue SA

Dear Georgina,

I really enjoyed the Life Boat Rescue article. It brought back memories of my time dangling beneath numerous Court Helicopters S61N a/c off the coast of Cape Town. Some memories are good, such as using the 'hi-line' to winch twenty-two Taiwanese crew off a barge which had broken it's tow in five metre swells, whilst trying to explain to the crew to look down and not up as their greatest risk was the deck coming up and hitting them rather than the a/c coming down! Some are sad; such as winching up 4 bodies, 4 seriously ill crew and family members, off a chemical carrier which had had problems. And then the daft never to be repeated incidents such as getting thumped in the face by an irate windsurfer whilst on the end of the wire, in the sea around two miles off the coast, when I shouted "no we can't winch up your $*&£$$ surfboard"!!

Good times made even better by great crew both up front and in the back and I do hope by publishing this letter it gets into the hand of some of the great people...