SAR and R

Before I started my Rest and Recuperation period, I went to Devizes to help Max Maxwell on a Search and Rescue (SAR) Tracking course on behalf of Shadowhawk.

I was highly impressed with the organisation known as UKLSI, the UK Lowland Search and Rescue Institute,which are teams of volunteers called out to carry out search and rescue missions.

The well-organised event, which included navigation and first aid courses, also featured the tracking course. It was very interesting to see how tracking integrated with search and rescue and I was very impressed at the motivation of the delegates and the way they took to tracking. The principles were not too far removed from wildlife tracking so it wasn’t too difficult to adjust from this to man-tracking from an instructional perspective.

After the course finished on Sunday, I made my way to Gatwick, which in effect, closed that night because of the volcanic ash cloud. It was touch and go whether our flight would go ahead the next day. We were the first flight out and the decision to fly was delayed for an hour. Our airline had the foresight to load us on board in anticipation of a favourable decision and as soon as it was made, we were off on a strange routing to circumnavigate the ash cloud. Is this the cloud in the picture? Not sure if there ever was one. The pilot was dubious as well.

For the next 8 days, I ate, drank, slept, and swam the clear, clear waters of Ibiza, one of the beautiful Pityusan (meaning Pine-covered) Islands. I was surprised at just how tired I was, but despite falling asleep at the drop of my Rogue hat, I still had time for a few outings; climbing the high-sided hill over looking the wonderful bay and discovering the myriad of wildlife under the water by snorkelling. Of course a few fishing outings were in order- unsuccessful of course.

I also made friends with the local wall lizards and discovered that getting close to them took a special technique that involved bribery with cucumber and tomatoes.

I’ll talk about a couple of particular excursions and events in the next couple of posts.

Until then – thanks for the visit.

Pablo.