AS has become tradition, during the month of July, the number 67 absolutely dominates and this was especially true for the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) this year.
Founded in 1967, the NSRI volunteers live former president Nelson Madiba’s principles every minute of every day, in service of South African communities and saving lives on South African waters.
NSRI recently showcased the 58 420 operational minutes its national volunteers have recorded for the first half of 2020 in active rescues (the time spent from the moment a rescue craft is launched until it returns to base). This equates to 554 rescue callouts.
They have 1 245 volunteers, including 26 water safety instructors, who dedicate their personal time free, to saving lives.
In keeping with Mandela Month, a search began for active volunteers who are 67 years old and they happened upon Morven Maclean (67), crew for NSRI Station 6 in Port Elizabeth.
Maclean joined NSRI Station 6 in Port Elizabeth in 2001 and has since volunteered more than 4 000 hours of his time.
“As a keen scuba diver, I have been going to sea for many years and have my own rubber duck which we dive off. I assist with research at sea and I am the safety officer for Sailing PE and sea based water sports including the Noordhoek Ski Boat Club. All this could only lead to me joining the NSRI,” said Maclean, who is also a rescue PADI diver and dives with his family most weekends.
As part of one of the four crew teams called the Pirates, Maclean crews and is helmsman on Toft, a Breede 10M boat. One of his roles is preparing all four of the NSRI boats for their annual LGSC boat inspections.
“I also sit on the operations committee of Station 6 to help manage the boat repairs and maintenance programmes.”
In almost 20 years with the organisation, Maclean has won several awards, including rookie, crewman and crew of the year. He has also completed courses such as firefighting, helicopter training, life raft, maritime extraction, navigation, radar, level 3 first aid and pyrotechnics.
Maclean’s sea research involvement entails the delivery of marine biologists to Bird Island, dolphin and whale study support, EIA studies for protection of wrecks and checking routes for pipelines under the sea, MPA coral checks and abalone farming support.
In Mandela Month, Maclean said it was the time – especially with the COVID-19 pandemic – “to pull together and support each other as we all know he would have done.”
Dr Cleeve Robertson, NSRI CEO, said that no one understood the value of a minute like an NSRI volunteer, when one minute could mean the difference between life and death.
In addition to the lifesaving work it does on South African waters, the NSRI also runs a number of drowning prevention and water safety programmes at disadvantaged schools across the country.
- To give them a helping hand, visit www.nsri.org.za for more info. In an emergency, call Sea Rescue Emergency at 087 094 9774 (NSRI Emergency Operations Centre) or 112.
