Translated video description:

> The prototype of a new boat class of the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (DGzRS) was named KNUT OLAF KOLBE on Friday, 1 December 2023 in Wustrow. The volunteer centre there, which has been in existence for more than 175 years, is the oldest in the DGzRS. It now has a completely new rescue boat specially developed for the area - including a new special trailer and tractor. > > Around eight and a half metres long, a draught of 60 centimetres and a speed of 33 knots (approx. 61 km/h) - these are some of the striking technical specifications of the new boat. The new 8.4 metre class of the DGzRS was constructed by Arctic Airboats in Finland, in close development cooperation with the sea rescuers. The prototype was built by a specialised Finnish boatbuilding company. > > The new, extremely seaworthy rescue boat has a high-strength aluminium hull - typical of DGzRS rescue units. The superstructure is made of extremely robust glass fibre reinforced plastic. A 425 hp jet drive accelerates the boat to a speed of 33 knots (approx. 61 km/h). > > Like its predecessor, this rescue boat is stationed ashore on a special trailer - also newly constructed - in the DGzRS rescue shed built in 1905 in the centre of Wustrow. A powerful John Deere 6R 230 tractor, specially converted for maritime use, transports the boat either to the open Baltic Sea or to the extensive backwaters of the Bodden.

> Air Station Sitka’s area of responsibility (AOR) encompasses the entire Southeast region of Alaska from Dixon Entrance north to Central Alaska and from the U.S./Canadian border west to the central Gulf of Alaska.

Translated video description:

> We look back on a quiet but exciting year. In 2023, our lifeboats made 2363 calls for assistance. Last year, 3,397 people (4,005 in 2022) and 123 animals were brought safely ashore by the lifeboats. > > Everyone has also been busy preparing for the 200th anniversary in 2024. With special events, special products and exhibitions, KNRM has been marking a year since 11 November to reflect on the stories of the past and look ahead to the coming years full of innovation.

Translated video description:

> Throughout the year, the volunteer lifeboat crews of the Royal Dutch Rescue Society (KNRM) visit the anchorages off the Dutch coast. Usually to get sick and injured people off board large sea-going vessels. > Every year, the volunteer rescuers from KNRM rescue stations Katwijk aan Zee, Scheveningen, IJmuiden, Hoek van Holland, Ter Heijde, Stellendam and Neeltje Jans combine their last exercise of the year with a special action. > They handed out Christmas loaves at ships anchored at anchor. We went out with the volunteers from Katwijk aan Zee!

Translated video description: > Erik Bye summarised the Rescue Society's work well in connection with our 100th anniversary. Sailing for life! This also summarises the year we have been through. We have sailed for life and saved 27 human lives. We are proud of that! Thank you to all of you who have made this possible: volunteers, permanent employees, donors, donors, supporters and the public sector. Thank you, and Merry Christmas!

Translated video description:

>Take a look back at an eventful - and moving - year for sea rescuers in 2023 with our annual review! We would like to thank you all in #TeamSeenotretter for your great support in the year that is drawing to a close. > > Every donation counts! > > Thanks to your great commitment, the sea rescuers were once again able to carry out around 2,000 missions on the North Sea and Baltic Sea in 2023 - in all weathers, around the clock. And they did so voluntarily, independently and funded by donations. This would not be possible without you - thank you very much for your support!

Translated YouTube description:

> How do you quickly and intelligently evacuate hundreds of people from a ferry? What do you need to get everyone safely to shore? And: how can emergency services like KNRM, ambulances, fire brigade and the Coast Guard best work together to do so? This is what we are practising at LIVEX on 1 June 2024.

YouTube description:

> Have you ever wondered what it takes for a Coast Guard rescue swimmer to respond to a capsized boat incident? Join us on a behind-the-scenes look into the Coast Guard’s unbelievable rescue case, where a yacht was flipped over by a massive wave near the Columbia River Bar. > >Coast Guard rescue swimmer Branch Walton and aircrew member Joe Ivy recount what really happened that day. > > The response took place while Walton was attending the Coast Guard’s Advanced Helicopter Rescue School (AHRS) in Astoria, Oregon. When he received the call, Walton readily put his rescue skills to the test and jumped into action. He worked closely with Ivy, an AHRS instructor/rescue flight mechanic to complete the mission. > > This was the first life Walton saved as a Coast Guard rescue swimmer.

Autotranslated video description:

> On Wednesday 18/10 the rescuers were called away from dinner for a tough job. The Bonito, a yacht of 25 meters long and weighing 100 tons, was lying ten miles in the sea between Blankenberge and Zeebrugge with engine problems. The ship was at anchor waiting for help. The strong westerly wind caused considerable sea conditions, which did not make the operation any easier. > >Due to the size of the vessel, both lifeboats carry Straffe Hendrik and Sterken Dries. Within 30 minutes of the call they were alongside the yacht. A rescuer was transferred. He evaluated the situation on board and helped the English-speaking crew to raise the anchor and make the towing connection between the Straffe Hendrik and the Bonito. > > At a speed of 5 knots the Straffe Hendrik towed the Bonito towards the port of Zeebrugge. > > About 3 hours later, both lifeboats and the Bonito arrive safely in the port of Zeebrugge, where the ship is taken alongside and moored at the visitors jetty. The rescuers are back in Blankenberge around 11 p.m. The STRAFFE Hendrik and the STERKEN Dries once again lived up to their names, or was it the crew that deserves praise here?

Translated video description: > ## HOW WE ACT IN EMERGENCIES (DEFYING THE MYTH OF SISYPHUS) > We leave you this video made by the crew of the Salvamar Izar. The steps are clear. > > 1. We go on duty > 2. We collect data > 3. We get underway > 4. We locate > 5. We act > 6. Every second counts. That's why we do it quickly. And we save lives. > 7. Back to base > > What this video doesn't say is that after returning to base, the operation starts again with another call: someone in danger, someone at sea who needs our help! > > Some will say it's like the myth of Sisyphus (that absurd punishment of Sisyphus to push a heavy rock up a mountain only to fall back down when he reaches the top). But, in this case, reaching the top translates into lives saved. Many lives. In the 30 years since Salvamento Marítimo was created, more than 680,000 people have been searched for, rescued or assisted. > > Thank you for this video (by Álvaro Rodríguez) and thanks to all the professionals for climbing impossible peaks. That is what makes you 'special'.

Remote controlled, it can be used to get people in the water closer to the boat, and I think also to get lines across to a stranded vessel (?). This would be especially awesome, as that way you don't endanger your rescue boat by sailing into the shallows and you don't have to use line throwing rockets.

Translated video description:

> 🚨 The moment of sinking: The sea rescuers from the Büsum station of the German Society for the Rescue of the Shipwrecked (DGzRS) rescued two fishermen from a life raft on the North Sea on August 18, 2023. After a fire 🔥 on board, the fishermen had to leave their ship. The video shows our rescue cruiser THEODOR STORM at the scene of the accident as the cutter sinks, recorded by the rescue cruiser HERMANN MARWEDE.

Translated description: > Saturday, 29/07/2023 - Last Saturday, VBZR lifeguards trained together with the Blankenberge Beach and Rescue Service.

> The beach rescuers witnessed a head-on collision between a jet scooter and a motorboat with all its consequences. The drowning persons were carried off to the beach by the beach rescuers who were the first on the scene. > The seriously injured skipper also had to be evacuated via the Sterken Dries. The incident vessel and scooter were towed to the port of Blankenberge.

> A short search was then held with the 5 sar units during which the operation of the VBZR drifter was explained.

> A wonderful collaboration with smooth communication. > Thanks to the participating services. > Beach and Rescue Service Blankenberge IKWV - Intercommunale Kustreddingsdienst West-Vlaanderen O'neill Beachclub Blankenberge Maritime Rescue and Coordination Center Ostend

More information on https://www.international-maritime-rescue.org/saryouok

Translated video description: > The first rescue boat of a new 8.4-meter class of the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (DGzRS) is being put through its paces. Among other things, it has to prove in a capsize test that it - like all DGzRS rescue units - is a self-righting vessel. > Three units of this class - all with aluminum hulls and jet propulsion - are designed in cooperation with the DGzRS by Arctic Airboats in Finland and manufactured by a special Finnish boatbuilding company. > Like their seven-meter predecessors built in 1993, these sea rescue boats will be launched via the beach. They are stationed on special trailers, also newly constructed, in our mostly historic rescue sheds in Wustrow, Zingst and Zinnowitz. Powerful John Deere 6R 230 tractors, specially converted for maritime use, will take them to the field, either to the open Baltic Sea or to the widely ramified backwaters of the Bodden and Haff.

Translated description: "Every year, at sea and on the beaches, nearly 32,000 people are rescued by the Sauveteurs en Mer 🆘 By making a donation to the SNSM, you enable them to train all year round and have the equipment they need to save you 🌊"

Another ad from the same shoot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkk4MlVPmYc

Nearly 100 years after the founding of the international association of maritime rescue services from around the world, the International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF) hosted the XXIV World Maritime Rescue Congress (WMRC). Two rescue units of the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (DGzRS) and a historic rowing rescue boat participated in the comprehensive exchange of ideas and experiences from June 18 to 20 in Rotterdam. The host was the Koninklijke Nederlandse Redding Maatschappij (KNRM), the Dutch sister society of the DGzRS.

Translated video description: "On Sunday morning 19/03/2023, the VBZR had the opportunity to conduct an exercise with the NH-90 helicopter of 40SQN - Koksijde Base, under the direction of the MRCC (Maritime Rescue and Coordination Center). During this exercise a winching was performed on the Sterken Dries. This exercise is certainly interesting so the rescuers know what a winching at sea means during a real intervention."

I'll post the Top 10 most upvoted videos from the r/maritimeSAR subreddit over the next days.

Translated video description:

> On Wednesday, Oct. 27 in the morning, the VBZR was called by the Coast Guard for a missing dinghy with 24 refugees on board near the wind farm. One of the passengers had panicked by cell phone himself notified the emergency services after floating around in the North Sea for two days. Several emergency services rushed to the scene. The position was confirmed by an overflying aircraft. Together with the police vessel SPN09, helicopter Koksijde, Sterken Dries was the first to arrive at the scene. > > The medic from the helicopter was winched aboard Straffe Hendrik to do triage with our crew. 24 people on board, including 4 hypothermic, were taken aboard our rescue boat. Some were taken away by helicopter, the others were dropped off on the naval vessel Pollux. > > Sterken Dries towed the abandoned dinghy to the naval base in Zeebrugge after which a satisfied crew set sail for Blankenberge. A successful cooperation between the navy, the police the 40th and MRCC

Especially interesting is description of the lifeboat design and engineering to provide a safe rescue platform in tough conditions.

"In strong winds and rough seas, sea rescuers from the Gelting, Langballigau and Olpenitz stations rescued seven people from danger on the Baltic Sea at the end of April 2023. Three rescue units of the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service (DGzRS) were deployed together to bring a 14-meter sailing yacht and its crew safely to port after the mast broke."