Calls at Shelly Beach and Sea Point:

Friday, 01st May. Boat assisted, Shelly Beach. Four young men urged to be safe at sea, Sea Point:

SHELLY BEACH:

On Friday morning NSRI Shelly Beach launched the sea rescue craft SPIRIT OF DAWN to assist a husband and wife whose boat KAOTIC suffered motor failure off the back breakers at Shelly Beach.

A private boat also assisted and the couple and their boat were brought safely ashore.

SEA POINT:

NSRI Table Bay responded to Queens Beach Sea Point, on Friday early evening, to investigate reports of 4 men on a Pencil Rubber Duck appearing to be in difficulty off-shore.

According to eye-witnesses they were rowing towards shore on a small rubber duck after earlier capsizing.

On arrival on the scene NSRI found the 4 men, all from Goodwood, aged between 23 and 27, safely ashore and enquiries revealed that they had launched the boat at around 3 p.m. off the rocks at Queens Beach to ’test’ the 3 meter Pencil Rubber Duck but had left their outboard motor at home because it would not start and instead opted to just use 4 oars. On capsizing they had lost one oar and one of the men had lost his Personal Floatation Device.

With only each man having a PFD (Personal Floatation Device) as safety but no additional safety equipment and no communications onboard, and appearing to have not informed anyone of their intentions, NSRI Table Bay urged them to exercise safety precautions before launching as sea conditions can change rapidly. The NSRI is just thankful that they got back to shore safely but that the outcome could have been quite different if sea conditions had changed.

NSRI urge anyone launching any kind of craft onto water (sea and inland waters) to wear a life-jacket at all times while on water and carry safety equipment - Red Distress Flares, a Referee Whistle worn on a neck string, a small Signalling Mirror or Computer CD disc worn on a neck string, VHF Marine Radio and/or a Cellphone fully charged and stored in water tight plastic sleeve and a Waterproof Torch. Let a responsible person know of your departure time, your exact intended route and your expected return time, stick to your intentions, and everyone involved in your trip should have sea rescue emergency numbers programmed in their phones and a plan of action put in place to call an emergency if you do not return on time as scheduled.

Picture Paula Leech / NSRI