Albert,
Lets not get into w***y waving when it comes to SAR. I can think of plenty of occasions when I launched for SAR when the RAF had declined. There is always a place for exceptional bravery and differing captaincy decisions. I criticise nobody for the Cecil rescue, or indeed Fastnet, as I wasn't at either.
Evalu8,
Re Vertrep being in some ways simpler....it all depends on the load and sea state. And landing a Lynx or Merlin on the back of a T23, in sea state 6 at night will often beat the hardest SAR.
my point on SARTU etc is that for the RAF SAR is being deleted from the orbit and thus no funds should be spent on the capability beyond disbandment. For the RN the task continues and if there is a requirement to download SAR skill training (which is probably just the conning and winching aspect as hovering is a core skill for a helo pilot!) then the RN and Ascent will sort it out.