Durban — The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) is making the longest sea trip in its history to safeguard KwaZulu-Natal’s North Coast.
The NSRI said that right now, the NSRI’s fifth Offshore Rescue Craft (ORC) is proceeding on the longest sea trip in the organisation’s history, from Cape Town where the vessels are built to Richards Bay – Station 19 in KZN.
The NSRI is the only maritime rescue service operating in South African territorial waters and there’s a growing need to have modern rescue vessels such as the ORC.
NSRI director Brett Ayres was happy to announce that the organisation has added ORC number five to its fleet.
“Rescue 19 will be able to cover the northern coastline of KZN up to the Mozambique border. This is one of many reasons why this latest ORC went to Richards Bay,” Ayres said.
The total distance the ORC is travelling to KZN is 1 068 nautical miles which is equivalent to over 1 900km, and the craft is averaging at about 38km an hour.
The ORC first stopped in Mossel Bay to refuel and restock supplies.
The strategic reason why the ORC is travelling at sea is that it is much cheaper to take it this way rather than road freight.
NSRI training manager Graeme Harding, who is also the delivery skipper for the voyage said: “Preparing for a trip of this nature requires a lot of planning. One needs to do a full passage plan, as well as consider logistics, weather and sea conditions.
“A passage plan is a process where you consider all the hazards and plot a safe passage, with all the different bearings, speeds and fuel consumptions for each leg. You also must make sure that there is enough fuel on the vessel which requires a few stops along the way.”
The NSRI said that although most of the NSRI’s rescues are coastal and inshore, the coastline that the ORC will serve shares a boundary with Durban and Ballito stations at the Tugela River, which is the largest river in KZN.
Ayres added that there is a need for this vessel in the area because the Richards Bay rescue base supports a lot of commercial shipping as well as yacht traffic. The distances and local sea conditions of the area make it essential to have a class one boat.
Following its first stop in Mossel Bay, the ORC will stop at Gqeberha, followed by East London then Durban and will then complete its last leg to its destination in Richards Bay. Two of these legs are quite long, which include the leg from Cape Town to Mossel Bay which is 14 hours as is the one from East London to Durban.
The NSRI said that should anything go wrong, there is a safety net around the coastline that the crew have considered. There is a passage plan left behind at the NSRI Volunteer Support Centre, where the location of the vessel is always known, and where all tracking systems are monitored – as is done for all NSRI vessels when they put to sea.
The ORC is estimated to arrive Saturday afternoon at Richards Bay, the NSRI added.
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