New Year's Day incidents

PORT ALFRED:Gerrit Cloete, NSRI Port Alfred duty coxswain, said:At 06h44, Tuesday, 31st December, NSRI Port Alfred duty crew were activated to respond to the Bushman’s River where a 20 year old male had suffered injuries while skiing.We towed our sea rescue craft Rescue 11 Alpha to the Bushman’s River which we launched onto the river and responded 6 kilometers upstream and Guardmed ambulance services responded and boarded a private boat and headed to join us on the scene.On arrival on the scene we found the male, on holiday from Limpopo, on the shore and he was medically treated and secured to a stretcher and brought back downstream aboard our sea rescue craft and he has been transported to hospital by Guardmed ambulance in a stable condition and NSRI have been informed that he is on the road to recovery.STRUISBAAI:Reinard Geldenhuys, NSRI Agulhas station commander, said:At 07h56, Tuesday, 31st December, NSRI Agulhas received a call from Mr Calla Renaults, from Jacobs Bay, West Coast, reporting that they were 3 adults and two children south of Agulhas Lighthouse on four kayaks.They were drifting towards Suiderstrand and were concerned that they may not make it back in with the sea slowly building.Our NSRI Agulhas duty crew launched the sea rescue craft Spirit of Agulhas and rendezvoused with them near the Agulhas lighthouse.All five persons and their four kayaks were taken onboard our sea rescue craft and safely transported to Struisbaai harbour where no further assistance was required.The operation was completed at 09:h5 and crew went back onto normal standby.STRANDFONTEIN – WEST COAST:Stewart Seini, NSRI Lifeguard training coordinator, said:At 17h11, Monday, 30th December, at Strandfontein on the West Coast, at the NSRI’s Municipal rescue swimmer unit, a kayak capsized off-shore with 2 people on board, a 13 year old male and his 48 year old father and neither were wearing life jackets.The father held onto the kayak and the teenager was pulled further out to sea separated from the kayak.A NSRI rescue swimmer launched into the water and reached the 13 year old and rescuing him safely to shore.The father was able to swim the kayak back to shore but he had suffered a laceration to his ankle sustained while recovering onto the rocks.The father received medical attention to his ankle by our NSRI medics and following treatment he required no further assistance and the teenager was not injured.They expressed their gratitude for the rescue effort.JEFFREYS BAY:Grietjie Burger, NSRI Jeffreys Bay duty coxswain, said:At 14h46, Tuesday, 31st December, NSRI Jeffreys Bay duty crew and Guardmed ambulance services responded to a waterfall on the Kabeljou’s River where a female, age 33, a South African now living in the Netherlands, sustained an injury.An NSRI St Francis Bay crewman had raised the alarm and confirmed that he was on the scene and had initiated medical treatment to the female and he requested NSRI Jeffreys Bay assistance.On arrival on the scene NSRI Jeffreys Bay crew and paramedics assisted the NSRI St Francis Bay crewman who was providing medical assistance to the injured female.Additional NSRI Jeffreys Bay crew were summoned to assist in carrying the stretcher and the patient was secured into a stretcher and hiked to a waiting ambulance and she has been transported to hospital in a stable condition by Guardmed ambulance and she is expected to make a full recoveryPATERNOSTER:Mike Shaw, NSRI Mykonos station commander, said:At 15h52, Monday, 30th December, NSRI Mykonos launched the sea rescue craft Spirit of Surfski 5 and Spirit of Rotary East London to assist a yacht requesting assistance to get into the Burg River Mouth, Port Owen.Shortly after activating NSRI Mykonos were informed that a private boat had assisted the yacht and NSRI diverted to search for a kite-boarder following eye-witness reports of a kite-boarder suspected to be blown out to sea off-shore of Paternoster.An extensive search revealed no sign of a kite-boarder and no reports of anyone missing or overdue have been reported.We suspect a false alarm with good intentions.PORT ELIZABETH:Jonathan Tufts, NSRI Port Elizabeth deputy station commander, said:At 19h47, Sunday, 29th December, NSRI Port Elizabeth duty crew launched the sea rescue craft Spirit of Toft to patient evacuate a 39 year old crewman suffering a medical complaint from a fishing trawler.EC Government Health EMS were activated.Spirit of Toft rendezvoused with the trawler 4 nautical miles off-shore of Port Elizabeth and an NSRI rescue swimmer was put onboard and the patient was transferred onto the sea rescue craft and he was brought to our NSRI sea rescue base without incident.The patient, in a stable condition, has been transported to hospital by EMS ambulance.TABLE BAY:Tome Mendez, NSRI Table Bay duty coxswain, said:At 17h25, Sunday, 29th December, NSRI Table Bay duty crew were activated to assist a yacht with 4 crew onboard reporting motor mechanical failure and requesting assistance to come into the Port of Table Bay.We launched the sea rescue craft Spirit of Vodacom and met the yacht just outside the breaker wall.By that stage they had repaired their motor and we escorted them to their berth without incident.The Cape to Rio yacht, from Brazil, berthed and no further assistance was required.