DeepC, without doubt every SAR pilot in the UK is painfully aware of the destructive capability of the Sea King downwash and will usually go to great lengths to avoid putting it in the wrong place. However comma an unconscious man in a RIB has presumably suffered a head injury and having the Air ambulance on scene does not mean a paramedic is with the casualty - therefore the priority must be to extract the casualty quickly or at least place the winchman (paramedic trained) with the casualty so he can assess the level of injury. Frankly this comes first and foremost and the fact that a couple of yotties will have to claim on their insurance for a new outboard comes a very poor second to saving someones life (casualties with head injuries can deteriorate very quickly). As for the other situation which you imply was well under control - a cliff sticker/faller can be just about to fall the 5m that might kill him and a cliff rescue team takes a while to rope up and deploy once they have arrived on scene. Therefore as captain of the aircraft do you take immediate action to prevent loss of life and rescue the cliff sticker/faller or do you watch him drop off the cliff and break himself. Again the scattering of a few peoples picnics is not much of a price to pay. Coastguard units often have big problems with clearing the public away from SARops as everyone wants to rubberneck and none of them can anticipate the effects of the downwash.