19th and 20th December 2012. Two incidents:
At 16h50 on Wednesday, 19th December Hermanus volunteers were called out following eye-witness accounts of two young men in difficulty on a two man canoe off the Marine Hotel, Hermanus.
A NSRI volunteer on shore had witnessed the two young men capsize and after watching them struggling to get back into the canoe he raised the alarm and the NSRI rescue craft LE JENMAR II was launched.
Gideon Loubser, NSRI Hermanus duty controller, said that the two 19 year old men, one from Hermanus and one from Stellenbosch, were found swimming towards shore after abandoning the canoe. They were taken aboard the sea rescue boat and their canoe was recovered.
It appears that they had borrowed the canoe from a friend but did not realize that the 'bung' (a plug at the back of the canoe that prevents water from coming in and is used to drain water from craft once on dry land) was not plugged in and as the canoe's hull filled with water it became unsteady and capsized.
At 11h30, Thursday, 20th December, NSRI Hermanus volunteer sea rescue duty crew launched the sea rescue craft HUNTERS GOLD RESCUER to respond to Vermont following eye-witness reports of a small rubber-duck with two men onboard which had capsized.
Deon Langenhoven, NSRI Hermanus duty coxswain, said that on arrival on-scene it was found that both men had been rescued by a small boat that had come to their assistance with a lone skipper onboard.
Both men were taken onboard the NSRI sea rescue craft and transported to the shore at Hardebaai where they required no further assistance. Their boat was recovered and neither of the two men were injured. The skipper is in his 60's from Onrus, and the crewman, in his mid 40's from Bellville.
NSRI did not get details of the skipper of the small boat that rescued the two men. He is commended for his effort.
