Coast Guard ends 2-week isle training

Coast Guard personnel from throughout the Pacific wrapped up on Friday two weeks of search-and-rescue training in Hawaii.

Instructors picked Hawaii because of the consistently challenging offshore sea conditions here and because the Coast Guard keeps two state-of-the-art response boats in Hono­lulu.

Coast Guardsmen spent time in the classroom, then practiced towing and passing gear about two miles off Diamond Head. They practiced in conditions approaching 12-foot swells and 40 mph winds — the operational limits of the service’s Response Boat-Medium vessel.

The National Motor Lifeboat School was established in 1968 at Station Cape Disappointment in Washington state. It’s the only school for rough-weather surf rescue operations in the country.