Otago Southland Rescue Helicopter general manager Andy Craig said crews practised several winch rescues from Rehua off the Karitane coast last week.
The exercise was in partnership with Sealord to allow a realistic simulation to take place.
Five pilots, four winch operators and a dozen paramedics took part in the exercise.
"Our crew has completed several rescues from Sealord vessels over the years, most recently off Banks Peninsula in March, but Wednesday was the first time we trained together.
"We feel really lucky that Sealord have seen this as an opportunity and made it happen — the reality is that everything is a lot safer if we get a chance to practise like this," Mr Craig said.
Previous winch training was usually done on smaller coastguard vessels in Otago Harbour, but most rescues from ships happened further from shore, on larger vessels and in bigger swells.
The Otago Southland Rescue Helicopter service completes about a dozen rescues from a range of vessels including cruise ships, tankers, fishing trawlers and other ships annually.
‘It’s one thing doing [rescues] over a flat hillside that’s not moving, but there is a lot more crew co-ordination needed when it is over a moving vessel, especially in big swells," Mr Craig said.
"That’s why training operations like the one with Sealord are really important."
Paramedics were winched down to Rehua and picked back up after the helicopter completed a circuit during the exercise on Wednesday.
Rehua skipper Pete Connolly said the training was mutually beneficial.
Mr Connolly said he had been on the ship for the past 23 years and in that time had seen two medical evacuations.
"On both occasions it was imperative to get the people off," he said.
Once a vessel was within the helicopter’s range, it might save them 10 hours getting to the closest port. — APL
