The call came in.
An Epirb had been activated off the Stockton coast.
It was registered to the owner of a catamaran, who had set sail from Shoal Bay to Ettalong about 8am on Thursday July 11, 2019.
Five people were on board.
For the Westpac 1 Rescue Helicopter crew that responded, as pilot Graeme Anderson explains, it "will probably be one of those jobs that, years down the track, will still sit fresh in our memories".
"This one was definitely a tragic job," he says.
"It was a job that required everyone's skill on board to rescue the survivors."
The crew of four - Mr Anderson, air crew officer Sean Flanagan, paramedic Sean Vallance and doctor Tim Starkey - were tasked by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority to respond to the emergency beacon.
They knew the type of vessel they were looking for, how many were on board and where the beacon was.
But they also knew what the conditions would be like on the water that day.
"It was mid-morning. We hadn't done any other taskings at that stage," Mr Anderson recalls of that day's shift. "It was a quite strong westerly wind blowing. There were severe weather warnings out."
When an Epirb is activated at sea, the service responds as if people are in the water.
While the helicopter was being prepared, Mr Vallance put on his wetsuit and his swimming gear. A life raft was also put on board, ready to be dropped at a moment's notice.
"We tend to treat the beacon search as we will probably find someone safe and well because a large percentage of the time when the beacons go off, they are inadvertently activated," Mr Anderson says.
"However on this day when we were flying out, the conditions were just horrendous out there. The winds were blowing 90 knots across the water."
It was an eight-minute flight from the Belmont base to where the beacon was.
"It was pretty rough out there. It was really windy and the seas were really big," air crew officer Sean Flanagan recalls of the conditions.
"It was really hard to see. We actually went over the top of [the vessel] without noticing and had to come back around.
"Everyone was looking left and right but it was directly under the aircraft. All the white caps and how bad the water was, you couldn't make it out straight away."
For the highly trained and skilled crew, the next steps are "all pretty procedural", Mr Flanagan says. They are all focussed on the task. It's step by step by step. Emotions are kept in check.
Below, they can see five people in the water.
"They were in the water clinging to the upturned vessel," he says.
The team discussed how to conduct the rescue and Mr Vallance was put "on the wire" and lowered down.
"We could see there was a young girl, so she was always going to be the first one that we retrieved," Mr Anderson says.
"Sean got in the water, swam through all the ropes and everything to get to them and managed to get the young girl, so we brought her on board. That was when Doctor Starkey was giving her medical attention, looking after her.
"We then put Sean back in the water for the next survivor, which happened to be her father - we weren't aware of that at the time - and retrieved him on board.
"Unfortunately in that process while we were getting those two ... the [three] other people succumbed to the conditions. There was nothing we could do."
The survivors Jeremy Cooper, 50, and his daughter Emma, 16, were taken to John Hunter Hospital and treated for hypothermia and shock.
Mr Cooper's parents, Rod and Helen Cooper, both 78, and a family friend aged 67, died at sea.
"It was a tragic day, but we did recover some people and that was the bonus and the good thing," Mr Flanagan says. "It gives you goosebumps thinking about it."
The Westpac 1 crew involved that day received a Professional Commendation Award at the National Search and Rescue Council's 2020 Australian Search and Rescue Awards last week.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said at the ceremony the awardees "were a credit to our community, putting themselves in harm's way to come to the aid of those in distress on land or at sea".
"Because of the actions of these people many others are alive today, safe with their families and friends," he said. "These are acts worthy of national recognition."
The humble crew played down their actions and efforts that day, preferring to praise the broader service, their training and the other agencies involved.
"We're quietly stoked about the award, but it's bittersweet as well," Mr Flanagan said this week.
"It's definitely a job that will stick in the back of the mind.
"Every job has got its own variability to it. There are other jobs that we do that can be more difficult in other ways; aviation wise and we've been out on searches at night in horrendous weather conditions."
Mr Anderson said it was an "honour to be nominated and pick up the award, but it's not something we would expect for doing our job".
"It's nice to know that people know you did a good job, but at the end of the day - it's our job.
"The person who needs the most recognition out of the crew is NSW Ambulance paramedic Sean Vallance.
"He is the one who had to deal with it face to face, in the water with those conditions, while we're sitting up in the aircraft high and dry.
"He had the hardest task out of everyone on board."
Kalyn Ponga to undergo surgery, miss State of Origin
Accused murderer 'agreed to finish off' badly burnt Wade Still: prosecution
Investigation after 70 native trees poisoned in Lake Macquarie
