Navy Torque - when a crew try for an hour to get a winching opportunity and then knock it on the head, you know the conditions were bad. 200 miles out in the dark (the light levels were less than 1 millilux) in 8m seas is not a nice place to be.
The aircraft Captain showed great maturity (he is just coming to the end of his first tour) in electing not to put the winchman onto the deck. I suspect that since the boat crew's injuries were serious but not life threatening, he made the right decision in this case rather than risk breaking the winchman and endangering the casualty (who had spinal injuries) further.
It is only a few years since an RN crew broke all their hi-lines trying to get the winchman on a nasty night deck in similar conditions and had to leave it to an RAF crew who got there later and did the job. Does it prove anything? No, other than SAR can be a nasty, difficult job and even the best crews can struggle in horrendous conditions.
Well done to all the SAR boys and girls
