Tugboat Captain Medevaced in Brownsville, Texas
An ailing tugboat captain was medevaced in Brownsville, Texas, Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard said.Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi command center received a medevac request at 7:16 a.m. via VHF Channel 16 from the crew of the El Zorro Grande, a tugboat transiting outbound on the Brownsville ship channel, stating the captain had passed out, officials said.A Coast Guard Station South Padre Island 33-foot Special Purpose Craft – Law Enforcement boat crew launched to assist with a duty corpsman aboard.The SPC-LE crew arrived on scene, embarked the 49-year-old tug master, and transported him to awaiting emergency medical services at an oil dock in Port Isabel, Texas, the Coast Guard said.A Brownsville pilot, who was aboard at the time, maneuvered the St.
Injured Tug Captain Medevaced Near Key West
The U.S. Coast Guard medevaced the captain from the tugboat, Capt. Beau, after he reportedly sustained a fall near Long Key, Fla., Wednesday.Coast Guard Sector Key West watchstanders launched a Coast Guard Station Marathon 33-foot Special Purpose Craft—Law Enforcement boat crew who embarked the captain and transferred him to local emergency medical services at Conch Key Marina. The 52-year-old patient was taken to Fisherman's Hospital.Watchstanders received a medevac request from the Capt. Beau crew stating the captain of the vessel fell and sustained an injury.
First Great Lakes Shiprider Patrol of 2014
A U.S. Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Mounted Police law enforcement boat crew conducted the first Shiprider patrol of the 2014 Great Lakes boating season, Thursday, in Lake Erie. The Shiprider Program allows U.S. and Canadian maritime law enforcement officers to embark together on joint patrols to integrate operations on and near shared maritime borders. Law enforcement officers from Coast Guard Station Belle Isle, Michigan and a RCMP officer from Windsor, Ontario, embarked on a Coast Guard 45-foot response boat for the patrol in Lake Erie.
The Weakest Link
The world is changing fast and this is especially true in the fast boat sector. Since the millennium, rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIBs) and high speed craft (HSC) have been at the cutting edge of maritime operations for everything from homeland security and law enforcement to extreme weather rescue. For over 30 years specialist organizations around the world including the RNLI (UK lifeboat), Royal Marines, US Navy and US Coast Guard have driven the evolution of fast craft. They know what has worked in the past and know what boats they want for the future.
