Unsung heroes
This month’s feature about the sinking of the yacht Essence off Cape Brett in October last year – Anatomy of a Rescue – is one of the most harrowing accounts of survival at sea I’ve ever read. It’s written by Bruce Goodwin – one of the four crew members.
The process of writing about and reliving the experience, he acknowledges, proved to be cathartic – it helped with the healing. We are richer for his pain.
I’ve presented the feature in two parts – next month’s issue contains Part 2 – and I’d urge you to make a point of reading both. Part 1 deals with the circumstances leading up to, and the eventual sinking, of the yacht. Part 2 deals with the rescue of the crew and includes a retrospective analysis of what can be learned from the tragedy. Rivetting reading – and particularly valuable for anyone planning an offshore voyage.
But I also want to pay tribute to the men and women responsible for the rescue of Essence’s crew – in the most horrendous conditions. The crews that man New Zealand’s Search and Rescue facilities, the crews that fly the Orions, the Coastguard crews – and, in particular, the crews and paramedics of the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust (ARHT).
These are not people any of us meet on a regular basis and they tend to hover around the periphery of the average boatie’s consciousness – if at all. They only make the headlines in the most distressing of circumstances – when a boatie’s nostril-deep in the proverbial – while the rest of us are at home, armed with a red wine.
Theirs is not a job description I can relate to easily – crisis response in extremis – and, by definition, it’s almost always like that.
So, it’s satisfying to learn that NZSAR is set to receive an extra $58.4 million over the next four years to underpin its work. The funding was announced by Transport Minister Phil Twyford at a July function which recognised the work of four Auckland rescue groups – among them ARHT. It received a Certificate of Achievement for the rescue of Essence’s crew.
As Goodwin writes: “Thank you to the wonderful people who willingly flew aircraft and drove boats into a howling gale to rescue us, putting their own lives on the line: their skill and bravery are remarkable and to be treasured.”
Amen.
Happy boating.