Every two years in the Northern hemisphere spring, members of the rescue swimmers association along with aviation and equipment specialists from around the world come together to share their experiences and learn from each other.
The 20th of May was scheduled to see our 6th Rescue Swimmers meeting take place in Cascais, Portugal. Unfortunately it was with great regret that in light of the COVID 19 outbreak we had to postpone this meeting.
As sad as it is that that we won’t all be catching up on the gorgeous Atlantic shores in Portugal, we are looking forward to coming together around this time next year for what is sure to be a fantastic event.
Usually, with the meeting in full swing we would be able to bring you a great range of pictures and updates of our members and partners taking part in the events of the meeting as they happen. While it is unfortunate that we are unable to do this at the moment, over the next week or so we will be looking back at the rescue swimmer meetings from previous years and the great times that were had by all those who attended.
Last week we brought you some pictures of our first “official” meeting in Aalborg, Denmark in 2012. Two years later the next meeting was held in the Northern Spanish city of Gijón, Asturias on the Bay of Biscay.
Hosted by City of Gijón as well as the national Spanish Maritime Safety organisation, Salvamento Marítimo the meetings took place at locations across the city including the operational Helicopter SAR base and amazing Centro Jovellanos training facility.
At Centro Jovellanos members heard various presentations including intimate details of specific missions undertaken by members. These debriefs are a fantastic opportunity to go over missions that went well as well as looking into the factors that meant other missions did not and how to ensure poor outcomes are avoided in the future.
Long time association partners including Lite Flite ApS, Ursuit, Axnes and Helisafe AB were also present to give our members a hands on look at some of the fantastic equipment in use in Helicopter SAR operations around the world and the best way to use and care for the equipment.
