MRI SAR Festival 2003

Maritime Rescue Institute hosted its first SAR festival over the weekend 23-25th August. Guest of honour was Mr Jim Shekhdar, the first man to row the Pacific singled handed and unassisted (follow his next venture across the Southern Ocean at www.oc2003.com). Jim gave a highly entertaining talk to a busy room at St Leonards Hotel on the Friday night.

The main event was the Saturday which luckily enjoyed glorious weather and encouraged large crowds who seemed to enjoy themselves as we have had plenty of people asking if we plan to do another next year. The event was rounded off with an auction and dance at the St Leonards Hotel, which the band 5th Avenue made sure was memorable and a fitting end to a successful weekend. Big thanks to all involved, too many to name. We made about £7000 including £1000 from the 999 Cyclathon. Most of the money raised has gone to buy new dry suits, gloves and hats for all the crewmembers.

Though the organisers and helpers had a 7am start, the event officially began at 1pm when Stonehaven Pipe Band lead Jim, the Highland dancers and the SAR team from the High Street of the Old Town to the harbour.

The Pipe Band played throughout the afternoon and also to welcome everybody in to the dance in the evening. They are currently trying to raise  £40, 000 themselves to go to the 2003 World Piping Championships, so their willingness to support us was much appreciated.

The first demonstration of the day was provided by Stonehaven SAR team, here half way through a capsize reversal drill.

The Pipe Band and the weather quickly drew a crowd to the harbour and we were delighted that the stalls and demonstration area remained busy all afternoon.

Trossachs Search and Rescue Dogs put another excellent demonstration on for us. 4 of their 7 dogs (plus handlers) had just taken part in the UK SAR Dog 2002 competition and won:

1st Open Countryside Search

2nd Rubble (collapsed building search)

2nd Structural (derelict building search)

4th (joint placing) Forest Search.

A Grampian Fire Brigade engine can also been seen in this photograph. Stonehaven Fire Service did a demonstration of casualty extraction from a crashed car.

Stonehaven Sea Cadets displayed their sailing and row boat pulling skills. Last year they won the Canada Trophy, awarded to the best Sea Cadet Unit in the UK.

Stonehaven Sea Cadets displayed their sailing and row boat pulling skills. Last year they won the Canada Trophy, awarded to the best Sea Cadet Unit in the UK.

Ian Watson provided boat trips from Stonehaven Harbour down to Dunnottar Castle all afternoon for us. Special thanks to Michael Kuhn of the German Sea Rescue Society (DGzRS) for being last minute crew!

The Dutch lifeboat service, KNRM, were kind enough to loan one of their walk nets. The walk net is designed for mass evacuation of people from ferries or other large ships that have grounded. Stonehaven SAR team set up the walk net and demonstrated a stretcher transfer as well as person transfer along it.

Without any doubt the top crowd-pleaser was Uisghe, the Newfoundland rescue dog. Even though she has been out of training for the past couple of years, she rescued a person from the water, and pulled a boat with 3 people in it all the way back to the harbour steps.

Uisghe also rose reluctantly, but successfully, to the challenge of towing 10 people, all linked together in the water, back to the shore.

The SAR team in dry suits loaned by Multifabs Ltd. Our lifejackets were purchased from money raised by the '999 Cyclathon' which local youngsters organised along with Grampian Police's Diced Cap Charitable Trust.

We owe a huge thanks to all the shops, businesses, organisations and individuals that donated prizes, muscle power and goodwill to make it such a success. In particular:

  • Stonehaven Lions Club (supplied the awnings & ran the burger stall)
  • Stonehaven Rotary Club (helped set up--a very early start for a Saturday)
  • Stonehaven Sea Cadets (for organising and running the kipper stall and providing demonstrations)
  • Grampian Fire Brigade (for their demonstration)
  • Gwynne Stewart & her dancers (for their lovely dancing)
  • Trossachs SAR Dogs (for making the journey and the demonstration)
  • John Lewin & Uisghe (for being the stars of the day!)
  • Jim Shekhdar (of course, for his personality!)
  • Bob Brown (for playing music in between the Pipe Band and demonstrations)
  • Muzz Crandon (for compering all day and running the auction at the dance)
  • Ian Watson & Michael Kuhn (for taking trips to Dunnottar Castle on Lady Gail II)
  • The Heritage Society & Ian Balgowan (for the heritage stall which was very well appreciated)
  • Stonehaven Pipe Band (for getting the whole thing off to a fine start, playing throughout the day and at the dance)
  • Stonehaven Community Centre (for loaning the tables)
  • St Bridget's Church Hall (loaning more tables & chairs!)
  • Stonehaven Yacht Club (for providing teas & running the 'Le Mans' regatta)
  • St Leonards Hotel (for providing a venue for Jim's talk and our dance)
  • Fifth Avenue Band (for providing fantastic music at our dance)
  • Stonehaven Open Air Pool (for providing a stall and the venue for the 'Learn to Scuba Dive' sessions)
  • Aberdeen Watersports (for running the 'Learn to Scuba Dive' sessions)
  • KNRM for the walknet
  • Grampian MacLennans (for transporting the walknet to and from Newcastle).
  • Stonehaven Coastguard (for running a stall)
  • Ivy Gaudie (for baking most all of the cake and candy produce)
photos