Patient winched off fishing boat in daring sea rescue

Tuesday, 7 September 2021

The Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter has carried out a challenging rescue, winching a patient off a fishing boat in Tasman Bay.

Pilot Colby Tyrrell said the rescue helicopter received the call-out about 10.30am on Monday morning, after a crewman on board the fishing boat Jennifer had suffered a medical event.

Tyrell said the boat had been on its way back to port, but was still about 10 miles north-west of Pepin Island in Tasman Bay when the distress call went out.

Before the helicopter crew, comprising pilots Barry McAuliffe and Brendan Hiatt, crewman Carl Babe and paramedic Steve Ward, reached the boat, they had to liaise with the fishing boat’s skipper to figure out how to get access to it.

**READ MORE:

* Three people in hospital following fatal crash on Whangamoa Saddle near Nelson

* Two people treated for minor injuries after collision at Richmond

* Teen motorbike rider flown to Nelson Hospital with serious injuries after crash

**

While normally there would be images of the boat online to provide a reference for the rescue – Tyrrell said the only that could be found beforehand was a painting.

He said conducting a winch off a boat at sea was more challenging than a land rescue, with a lot more factors for the crew to take into account.

“The thing for the pilot and crewmen is there’s no static reference point – everything’s moving, and there’s no landscape.

“It’s quite a reasonably-sized vessel too, so you’ve all that fishing gear and rigging you have to negotiate as well.”

Tyrrell said “with a reasonable sea running”, after the paramedic was winched down the patient was quickly picked up and flown to Nelson Hospital.

He said the whole job took about 45 minutes to complete.

St John spokesman Gerard Campbell said one patient had been taken from the boat to Nelson Hospital in a serious condition.