SeaHelp, Europe’s largest breakdown and rescue service for recreational boating in non-life-threatening situations, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. This was celebrated extensively on June 7, 2025, in Punat, Croatia, where SeaHelp’s headquarters are also located.
There must be a special reason when the yellow rescue boats of SeaHelp, Europe’s largest nautical breakdown service, take a little “time out” for a weekend. This very special reason arose on the Whitsun weekend of 2025: SeaHelp celebrated its twentieth anniversary in Punat, Croatia, home to the operations center of the well-known breakdown and rescue service for recreational boating.
Hundreds of members, partners, and friends of SeaHelp accepted the invitation to the anniversary celebration in warm, summery Punat, including many politicians, celebrities, representatives of water sports companies, and international press representatives.
“Dauser d.o.o. was founded in 2005 as the first European organization of its kind,” says Managing Director Wolfgang Dauser, adding that the company was renamed SeaHelp in 2008. Today, there are 31 bases across Europe with powerful and specially equipped rescue boats: on the German Baltic Sea coast, in Croatia, Slovenia, on the Italian Adriatic coast, in the Balearic Islands, on the Costa Brava, in the Netherlands, and on Lake Garda, he and his colleagues are available around the clock for recreational skippers and their needs.
Always at Dauser’s side was – and still is – his dedicated and always friendly colleague, “local colleague” and current head of the operations center in Punat, Marko Orlic. The SeaHelp editorial team spoke with Orlic, who, along with other deserving employees, was honored by Managing Director Wolfgang Dauser for his services during the celebrations in Punat on the occasion of the company’s 20th anniversary.
Marko, how did you come to SeaHelp?
Marko Orlic: I remember well our simple but exciting beginnings – when I came from the charter business and a new chapter began for me, one that has now lasted for 20 years. I wasn’t satisfied with my old job and was looking for something new. A new company had just been founded, and I had nothing to lose. I thought: if they’re starting a new company, they’ll at least have money for salaries in the first year. The company was called Sea Tow at the time and had been founded by brothers Christian and Wolfgang Dauser. I already knew Wolfgang and had helped him with his charter business. I helped check in boats for Italian customers—even though I don’t speak Italian, except for a few words. But somehow we got along well from the start.
My workplace was supposed to be on a rubber dinghy, but the boats hadn’t been delivered yet. So I took on other tasks at first. “Marko, can you place an ad to recruit new employees?” Sure. “Can you organize cell phones?” No problem. “Can you prepare the documents for the boats?” I’ll do it – that’s how it all started for me.
At the same time, there was also a lot of work to do with the charter company Sunshine Yachting, which was still active at the time, because from 2005 onwards, charter boats were only allowed to sail under the Croatian flag. The entire fleet had to be re-registered and adapted to the new regulations.
SeaHelp has long established itself as the first nautical breakdown and salvage service and is now the largest company of its kind. How did this come about? Over the years, many people have told me that they had similar ideas about starting a nautical breakdown service. Today, it’s easy to talk about it. But back then, it took someone like Wolfgang Dauser – with a lot of charter experience and the perspective of a foreign boat enthusiast – to actually turn these ideas into reality.
The reason for this is quite simple: Croatian boaters do not use their boats in the same way as foreign recreational skippers, and they face very different problems on the water. A Croatian boater is at home here, surrounded by friends, and knows the language. This means they can solve many problems themselves. Foreign boaters, however, often need assistance when they are on their own and do not speak the language.
The situation is very similar in other countries: in Italy, our services are used least by Italians themselves, in Germany least by Germans, and in Spain least by native Spaniards. But this is changing slowly but surely – also and especially in Croatia. More and more Croatian boaters are recognizing the benefits and advantages of our daily work.
Of course, there was resistance at first. Not so much against the idea of a nautical breakdown service itself, but against its implementation. “How are you going to do that with these small boats and outboard motors?” they asked. After all, you need a “big boat with a powerful engine and a large propeller” to tow boats.
But we just got started. In April 2005, the fleet was ready, the crews were organized, and on May 1, we officially launched our services. The problem: no one called us. Really, almost no one! There was no real marketing or PR; hardly anyone knew us.
What happened then?
Marko Orlic: Everything changed after we presented our idea to the Croatian Ministry of Maritime Affairs. The officials from the ministry sent a message to all port authorities and SAR (Search and Rescue) in Rijeka, and suddenly things took off. All of a sudden, we were well known and everyone was talking about us. A nautical breakdown and salvage service! That was new. Many recreational skippers contacted us and became members – many of them have been loyal to us from the very beginning, i.e. for 20 years.
I would like to thank all the authorities who have worked with us in a spirit of trust from the very beginning: SAR Rijeka, the port authorities, the maritime police, and everyone else. Without their support, many of our successes would simply not have been possible. What makes me particularly happy is that our work has been – and continues to be – appreciated. We have received four nominations for the Vjesnik Blue Ribbon alone. Our colleague Stanko Kovačević from Mali Lošinj, who has been with us since 2006, has already been nominated three times – twice together with his colleague Kristijan Nikolić.
Sea Help has also been honored by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs for our contribution to maritime safety. This proves the success of our work.
Many thanks to Wolfgang Dauser for giving me the opportunity to be part of this success story and for the trust he placed in me when it came to implementing new ideas, including changes to the fuel tax law, the introduction of new salvage techniques, the practical and now widely used Sea Help app, and, most importantly for our many members, the current, attractive membership models.
However, special thanks go to all our loyal members. I have known many of them for over 25 years, when they still owned small boats – many of them now own large yachts. I have personally “towed” some of them, and many others have been helped by our team. And we will probably “hook” some of them again in the future – don’t worry, everyone’s turn will come eventually… .
