ToD - You raise a valid point - but it is only valid to the degree that a base on the coast happens to be close to an incident - many over water incidents are quite some distance from a coastal SAR base and can be reached just a quickly from other locations. Furthermore, my point was not to suggest that there would be no bases on the coast - indeed there would always need to be some, if not the majority - but others need locating elsewhere (the key mountain areas being the cases in point as you suggest, or for example cost effective long range rescue ) - but these options were not presentable as SAR-H solutions whatever the maths, logic or need. I stand by this point - there is simply no need for all SAR bases to be on the coast - the majority of SAR missons are now overland, and the focussed need for a concept of ops for overwater aviation rescue using short range helos as evinced in the 1950s deployments are no longer valid.