When a person starts drowning and taking on water, rescuers have around 90 seconds before
brain damage can begin to set in and the person loses consciousness, therefore speed is of the
essence in water rescues. Existing paddleboards rely on the skill and strength of the rescuer.
With many charity/ volunteer run lifeguard stations they do not have a large budget for
training and motorised jet skis – and to cover the ongoing running costs.
The Asap Rescue Hero is a small one-person launch, electric motorised rescue craft. Being
powered by electric it is cost effective and can be recharged using renewable energy sources.
The craft can also be deployed in hard to reach locations such as caves and narrow windings
and can be used in search and rescue.
There is international demand for this product from lifeguard organisations and sports and
leisure businesses running water based events. The Asap Rescue Hero has an innovative
enclosed propulsion system which prevents injury from blades and makes it safe to use in a
wide range of environments.
This project is to fully develop the propulsion system and make 10 pre production prototypes
for evaluation in different rescue scenarios.
The initial business plan is to manufacture the units in the UK and sell up to 1000 units per
annum within 5 years with over half being exported to target territories including Australia,
South Africa and Europe. The key focus is to save lives, but the unit has a wider downstream
application as a leisure craft, which will generate revenues which can be used not only to
grow the business, but also to support provision to the rescue sector.