"obvioulsy tourist doesn't apppreciate the individual challenges of each SAR, nor the complexities of maritime winching, nor the reassurance factor of seeing the ace of clubs, credit where credit's due."
As an ex 771 and Gannet man myself, I would say I have a fair understanding of the difficulties of taking off in a flat sea state, flying to a merchantman and lifting some crew from the deck in broad daylight. i suspect that the crew involved would be a tad embarassed about the attention. As to the relief of the crew at seeing the ace of clubs, I strongly suspect that as they stood warm and safe on the deck of the ship clutching a cup-a-soup, the thought of flying home to explain their sudden lack of their angry palm tree to the captain was not a positive experience at all!!