Man overboard,
VYPs to
the rescue!

Our Venturn Young Professionals visited the Hansweert station of the KNRM (Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution) on Friday 13 August, where they were given a tough assignment. The goal was to give our VYPs an insight in how the KNRM handles a search and rescue operation. A buoy representing a person had been knocked overboard on the Westerschelde and it was up to our VYPs to find him. As in a real rescue operation, they had to calculate the current position using a tidal stream atlas under time pressure. Then, they embarked on their mission, but something came up before they reached the lifeboat…

Real rescue operation

Mere minutes before our VYPs set out for the water, the volunteers of the KNRM received a real distress signal. As a result, the lifeboat unfortunately departed without our VYPs aboard! Luckily, it turned out to be a minor emergency and the lifeboat returned to pick up our VYPs and resume their mission.

Man overboard

The ‘person’ our VYPs were trying to find was retrieved from the water eventually. The mission didn’t end there, though! Equipped with a real KNRM survival suit, our VYPs hit the water and got a crash course from the experienced KNRM volunteers on safely and effectively getting someone out of the water.

Venturn Young Professionals

The rescue operation was part of a complete teambuilding day for our VYPs. We have welcomed several new VYPs to the programme over the last few months and this was a great opportunity for the entire group to get to know each other better while embarking on an adventure together. More footage of this day will follow, but for now, check out the pictures taken by KNRM Hansweert’s resident photographer Mario Rentmeester!