NSRI are continuing in our appeal to bathers, boaters, paddlers and sail boarders to be cautious in this week leading up to Christmas Day.We are also appealing to rock anglers to be cautious while fishing along the shoreline.
PORT ELIZABETHEric Gildenhuys, NSRI Port Elizabeth duty coxswain, said:At 05h23, Monday, 21 December, NSRI Port Elizabeth duty crew were activated following a request for assistance from 3 local men on a 5.5 meter RHIB (rigid hull inflatable boat) reporting engine failure and drifting towards shore in the vicinity of Willows, Port Elizabeth.The sea rescue craft JLT Rescuer was launched and on arrival on the scene we found that the local Chokka fishing boat Trident had noticed the men drifting towards the shore and they had offered to assist.They were 50 meters off-shore and one of the men had swum ashore and he was safe and not injured but the RHIB was threatening to run aground.The crew of the Chokka fishing boat Trident took them under tow, with the remaining 2 men onboard, and towed them to deeper water and they were 1 nautical mile off-shore of Noordhoek and out of danger when our sea rescue craft arrived on the scene.NSRI took over the tow of the RHIB from Trident and we towed them into the Port of Port Elizabeth without incident and their boat was recovered and they required no further assistance.NSRI commend the crew of the Chokka fishing boat Trident who intervened and prevented the RHIB from running aground.
CAMPS BAY:David Rosenberg, NSRI Bakoven deputy station commander, said:At 11h26, Monday, 21 December, NSRI Bakoven duty crew and NSRI coastwatchers were alerted following eye-witness reports of an orange object afloat off-shore of Camps Bay Beach.On investigation the object floating in the water was confirmed to be a small 2 person kids inflatable swimming pool rubber duck.Lifeguards at Camps Bay Beach confirmed that the small inflatable had been swept off the beach at Camps Bay Beach in strong winds.NSRI are appealing to bathers to be cautious with floating objects around both coastal and inland waters.In this case fortunately no one was onboard the small boat but it can happen where winds blow floating objects out to sea or away from the shore on dams sometimes with people onboard and caution is advised.
RICHARDS BAY:Jacques Kruger, NSRI Richards Bay duty coxswain, said:At 12h44, Monday, 21 December, NSRI Richards Bay duty crew were activated following a request for assistance from local men on a fishing ski-boat reporting engine failure and adrift approximately 15 nautical miles off-shore of the Port of Richards Bay.The sea rescue craft Spirit of Round Table II was launched when it was confirmed that the men onboard the casualty boat had managed to get one motor started and they were limping towards the shore.The ski-boat reached the Port without assistance and the ski-boat club confirmed that they were out of danger and safely ashore.
SALDANHA BAY:Mike Shaw, NSRI Mykonos station commander, said:At 16h32, Monday, 21 December, NSRI Mykonos duty crew were activated following reports of a man on a sea-kayak missing in the vicinity of Marcus Island, Saldanha.A fellow paddler had activated an emergency on his NSRI RSA SafeTrx cellphone app and on investigation by NSRI EOC (Emergency Operations Centre) the man reported his friend missing.While preparing to launch a sea rescue craft NSRI EOC confirmed that the missing paddler had been found safe and no further assistance was required.NSRI are appealing to boaters, paddlers and sail boarders to download and use the free NSRI RSA SafeTrx cellphone application that can downloaded from our web page at
www.nsri.org.za.
GORDONS BAY:Alan Meiklejohn, NSRI Gordons Bay station commander, said:At 19h15, Monday, 21 December, NSRI Gordons Bay duty crew were activated following reports from Police of 2 surfskiers in difficulty in strong winds off-shore of Harbour Island.On investigation it was found that the surfskiers had made it safely towards Strand and they were not in any danger.NSRI appeal to paddlers to be cautious on the water in particular when there are strong wind conditions.
SHELLY BEACH:Jeremiah Jackson, NSRI Shelly Beach station commander, said:At 06h20, Tuesday, 22 December, NSRI Shelly Beach duty crew were activated following reports of a kayaker in difficulty offshore North of Sonny Evans Small Craft Harbour.While preparing to launch a sea rescue craft Shelly Beach Tower confirmed that the local boat Devocean was on the scene at the Kayaker and they were assisting him.The crew of Devocean remained on-site to assist but were unable to load the waterlogged kayak onto their craft and the local Sharks Board boat Acutus 3 took the kayaker and his kayak onboard their boat and he was brought safely to shore without incident and no further assistance was required.NSRI commend the cooperation between the local boats who assisted the kayaker.