Durban Sailing Communities donate money to National Sea Rescue Institute Rescue 5

Point Yacht Club

NSRI Fundraiser

Donations from the Barrel Race 2014 were presented to the National Sea Rescue Institute Durban Station with the Durban sailing community raising a whopping R109,075 to the volunteer organisation.

The annual Barrel Race is an event hosted by Point Yacht Club and organised jointly with the Bluff Yacht Club, Island Sailing Club and Royal Natal Yacht Club.

Fundraising activities included a beach party at PYC’s Beach Site, a fine dining event at PYC, a party at Royal Natal Yacht Club and the main Barrel Day during which all clubs contributed and took part.

The fun-filled Barrel Day included a fun race in the harbour, where a number of the NSRI volunteers joined the sailors on their romp around the bay. After all the water based activities, the fun returned to the shore for the land-based festivities.

In addition to the events, the money raised was through various donations, including the generous contributions from Seaport Supply, Offshore Sailing Academy, Dockleveller Supplies, Decorland and Alexander, Cox Attorneys.

The Durban sailing community handed over a cheque to the value of R80,000 to the NSRI in 2013, growing their support by nearly R30,000. The money raised will go towards helping with their maintenance that is a constant drain on their finances as well as adding to their savings towards a new 12meter rescue boat that they are hoping to launch in Durban in 2015.

“Local support for Sea Rescue is critical. It is extremely expensive to run a NSRI station and having the support of local business, clubs and individuals helps us to afford to keep our equipment in tip top condition, make sure that we always have fuel, excellent Personal Protective equipment like wetsuits and lifejackets as well as carrying out general preventative maintenance.” affirmed Clifford Ireland, the Station Five Station Commander.

Ireland joined the NSRI in 1992 and soon became a Class 1 Coxswain, and then the Durban Station Commander in 2010. “Last year the NSRI nationally had 662 rescue responses, spent 3,992 hours on operations and 7,903 hours on training across all 35 stations. We rescued 1,131 people.” Ireland proudly explained.

The hard working Durban establishment is one of four in the KZN province and their team is constantly training for any instance that could happen in our coastal waters, “Training depends on the station, but a norm would be a crew meeting each week, often on Wednesdays and then training on one day of the weekend. Again this changes station to station. The smaller stations will have one crew who will be training each weekend and the bigger stations four crews who train one day a month on their weekend on duty.”

Looking ahead at the 2015 Barrel Race, Ireland commented, “Thank you to all who took part and to all who put so much time and effort into making the 2014 Barrel Race unforgettable. Monies raised in this year’s event will be used to replace wetsuits and life-jackets. And of course towards the big one, our new rescue boat that will cost in the region of R13 million!

This year the Barrel Race hosted by all of the Durban yacht clubs will be held on Sunday 28 June

For more info visit the yacht clubs websites.