As somebody who was recently winched out of the sea (as part of a drill) by a Merlin helicopter I can vouch that it was not at all a pleasant experience. I was faced with a vicious sea chop that almost upturned me a few times, I could not keep my eyes open against the 150mph spray and it as the aircraft was winching from such a high hover (using the auto hover from the back door) it took 15 minutes to eventually snare me in the strop!
The Merlin has a great number of attributes that are being succesfully used across the SH and HM Fleet, but it does have shortfalls as a SAR aircraft, despite the claimed success of Cormorant! The requirements for the future SAR aircraft need to be carefully crafted - 2 different aircraft types may well be the answer but support costs must increase. It will no doubt be an interesting debate!
