| National Sea Rescue Institute | |
| Abbreviation: | NSRI |
| Formation: | [1] |
| Type: | Non-profit organisation |
| Purpose: | Search and rescue |
| Headquarters: | 4 Longclaw Drive, Milnerton, Cape Town |
| Location: | South Africa |
| Region Served: | Southern Africa |
| Leader Title: | CEO |
| Leader Name: | Dr Cleeve Robertson |
| Budget: | Donations, bequests and sponsorships cover the annual running costs. Use of volunteers avoids a salary bill around R0.5m per annum. |
| Revenue: | R174 million |
| Revenue Year: | 2021 |
| Website: | https://www.nsri.org.za/ |
The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) is a voluntary non-profit organisation in South Africa tasked with saving lives through drowning prevention. It operates 49 bases (as of November 2023) comprising coastal stations, inland stations on dams, auxiliary stations and lifeguard units. There are crews on standby at all hours. There are over 1000 volunteers equipped with sponsored rescue craft, rescue vehicles, quad bikes and tractors, supported by an operations department at the head office.[2]
The NSRI works closely with other Search and Rescue organisations (22 Squadron SAAF, South African Police Service and South African Maritime Safety Authority) in South Africa.
Following an incident at Stilbaai near Mossel Bay on the south coast of South Africa in 1966, in which 17 fishermen drowned after three fishing boats sank in a storm, Miss Pattie Price of Simon’s Town whose own life had been saved by a RNLI lifeboat in the English Channel, wrote a series of letters to the newspapers to advocate for the formation of a sea rescue organisation in South Africa.
Captain Bob Deacon and Ray Lant were the first volunteers to respond to this call and in 1967 the South African Inshore Rescue Service (SAISRS) was started, with a 4.7m inflatable boat donated by the Society of Master Mariners. The SAISRS was later renamed to National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) and continues the tradition of operation by volunteers.
| Station name | Station number | Coordinates | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bakoven | 2 | Coastal | ||
| Table Bay | 3 | Coastal | ||
| Mykonos | 4 | Coastal | ||
| Durban | 5 | Coastal | ||
| Port Elizabeth/Gqeberha | 6 | Coastal | ||
| East London | 7 | Coastal | ||
| Hout Bay | 8 | Coastal | ||
| Gordon's Bay | 9 | Coastal | ||
| Simon's Town | 10 | Coastal | ||
| Port Alfred | 11 | Coastal | ||
| Knysna | 12 | Coastal | ||
| Plettenberg Bay | 14 | Coastal | ||
| Mossel Bay | 15 | Coastal | ||
| Strandfontein | 16 | Coastal | ||
| Hermanus | 17 | Coastal | ||
| Melkbosstrand | 18 | Coastal | ||
| Richards Bay | 19 | Coastal | ||
| Shelly Beach | 20 | Coastal | ||
| St Francis Bay | 21 | Coastal | ||
| Vaal Dam | 22 | Inland | ||
| Wilderness | 23 | Coastal | ||
| Lambert's Bay | 24 | Coastal | ||
| Hartebeespoort Dam | 25 | Inland | ||
| Kommetjie | 26 | Coastal | ||
| Gauteng | 27 | Inland | ||
| Port St Johns | 28 | Coastal | ||
| Air Sea Rescue | 29 | Coastal | ||
| Agulhas | 30 | Coastal | ||
| Still Bay | 31 | Coastal | ||
| Port Edward | 32 | Coastal | ||
| Witsand | 33 | Coastal | ||
| Yzerfontein | 34 | Coastal | ||
| Witbank Dam | 35 | Inland | ||
| Oyster Bay | 36 | Coastal | ||
| Jeffrey's Bay | 37 | Coastal | ||
| Theewaterskloof | 38 | Inland | ||
| Rocky Bay | 39 | Coastal | ||
| St Lucia | 40 | Coastal | ||
| Ballito | 41 | Coastal | ||
| Kleinmond | 42 | Coastal | ||
| Port Nolloth | 43 | Coastal | ||
| St Helena | 44 | Coastal | ||
| Strandfontein (Matzikama) | 45 | Coastal | ||
| Storms River | 46 | Coastal, Auxiliary | ||
| Kei Mouth | 47 | Coastal, Auxiliary | ||
| Mdumbi | 49 | Coastal, Lifeguards | ||
| Umhlange | 50 | Coastal |
The NSRI has used a wide range of rescue vessels and types of rescue vessel over the years.
The first vessel of the offshore rescue craft (ORC) class vessel was procured from a French boatyard in 2019 and stationed at Durban. The vessel has a 14.8m long composite hull with a 4.8 m beam, and is suitable for search and rescue operations up to 50 nautical miles offshore. The second vessel of the class was finished from an imported set of mouldings and delivered to Station 10 (Simon's Town) from Two Oceans Marine in Cape Town in April 2021. It will be kept ready to launch at a few minutes notice on a cradle in the boathouse.
The rest of the series will be manufactured in Cape Town under license using moulds taken off the second boat's mouldings. The vessel is longitudinally subdivided into forepeak, forward accommodation for survivors, tank space with heads, engine room and steering flat. The superstructure is on the main deck and comprises a watertight wheelhouse, which provides a high centre of buoyancy for self-righting, and has a raised exterior steering position on the port side. The transom has a ladder for boarding from the water and two small platforms just above the waterline. There is a substantial towing bollard on the quarterdeck and a gap in the stern rail at the top of the ladder which also serves as a fairlead for towing lines. The crew seating includes safety belts and shock absorber mountings to mitigate vertical acceleration shock loads.
A track with sliding cars runs around the wheelhouse just below the handrail, providing secure but mobile harness clip-off points for crew working on or traversing the side decks. The handrails on the foredeck and side decks are inset to avoid damage when alongside large vessels in a seaway. There is a small but sturdy davit on the port side suitable for hoisting survivors on board, in clear view of the exterior control point.
Structure is fibre reinforced plastic composite, partly foam cored and partly solid skin with foam cored frames. Structural glass fibres are used for most of the layup, with carbon fibre stiffening where most effective. High density core material is used in heavily loaded components such as engine beds.
Specifications:
Names and stations:
As part of the NSRI's Drowning Prevention program, starting in 2017, the NSRI started placing Pink Rescue torpedo buoys in strategic locations including inland rivers, dams, and beaches.
Not only are they used for rescues when lifeguards are not around, but they act as a reminder to be careful when you are in the water if there are no lifeguards around.
Similar organisations around the world: