Area Familiarization and SAR Communications practical, at PEMO

Crew gathered to test their chart reading, communication, local knowledge, and radio skills.

Area Familirization (local knowledge) can be of great assistance when Coastguard are preparing to help someone in trouble at sea.  It is quite common for casualties to not know exactly where they are and to sometimes underestimate the risk that they have.

SAR communications is multi faceted,one facet being the questions that you need to ask the casualty to identify, who they are, where they, what is happening around them (weather, rocks & tide), why they need assistance and When can we get to them.  Having a clear understanding of the casulaties problems before we launch ensures a faster response and better chances of finding them