Volunteer Marine Rescue Mackay Inc is a small business that is in the business of saving life and property at sea.
VMR Mackay was first formed in 1965 after two lives were lost at sea. Members numbered about 46 and used their own boats and aircraft. It is the oldest squad in the State.
The current Primary Rescue vessel, which is the fifth that the Squad has owned, is a 10.0 metre Cougar Cat which is now 13 years old. It was the first VMR vessel in Queensland to be built to Survey (commercial standard). This vessel is very versatile, with its shallow draft and outboards it can be utilised inshore as well as in open waters. It is now due for replacement.
The Secondary Rescue vessel is a rigid inflatable boat carried on a trailer and can be launched at any boat ramp. It will need replacing within the next 5 years.
VMR Mackay operations cover an area about 80 Nm radius from Mackay which is approximately 23,000 square kilometres. Search, Rescue, Medivac and Radio Coverage services extend to all members of the boating community and their guests whilst at sea and in the last five years the Squad has responded to 395 requests for assistance. In that time 633 people have been returned to safety, the rescue vessel and crew were at sea for 1596 hours and 44,632 litres of fuel were used to complete the missions. Included in the above were 40 Police activations for search and rescue and 80 training exercises with some of these being joint exercises with the Water Police, CQ Rescue Helicopters and the SES.
