OOgle - I am not sure whether I should take your comments to mean you were one of the operating crew or not but I have the following observations:
If the pilot cannot see the vessel or only a small part of it and cannot see what is happening on the end of the winch wire, he MUST follow the con from the winch operator for any movement and especially the clearance away from the deck - if he does not he runs the risk of dragging the crewman and casualty through the myriad of obstructions that exist on most vessels. As you agreed, the clearance is pre-briefed but can change should the situation change (the boat could wander off heading or move unpredictably).
As to the tone of the patter - if you regularly fly with the same guy and you get used to him you do get used to the way he cons the aircraft - however, having listend to hundreds of cons from hundreds of winch ops, rapid patter (especially with a quickly corrected direction without using the word 'correction') is usually an indicator that he is working at capacity or something has gone badly wrong beneath the aircraft. In this particular case you can make your mind up about the winch op in question.
PO Dust devil - risking lives to save lives is exactly what SAR is all about. Winching clearances rely heavily on the winch op because the pilot cannot see underneath the aircraft - this doesn't mean the Pic is in the wrong place.