Stéfan Grové, NSRI Stilbaai station commander, said: At 10h19, Saturday, 2 November, NSRI Stilbaai duty crew were activated following a request for assistance from the skipper of local fishing boat EME reporting that their friends boat, a small open fishing boat, was unmanned and underway, turning in circles, 2 nautical miles offshore of Morris Point, Stilbaai, on the Cape South Coast.
The 2 crew of the casualty vessel had been rescued from the water by their friends on EME. They were both reported to be safe and unharmed.
The crew of EME are commended for the rescue.
NSRI Stilbaai, station 31 crew, launched the rescue craft JetRib - Marlene.
On arrival on the scene, we found both casualties to be safe onboard EME.
The NSRI rescue craft coxswain, Susan Grové matched the speed of the casualty vessel, that was underway, unmanned, and that was turning in circles.
The rescue craft, while underway, rafted alongside the unmanned casualty craft where NSRI rescue swimmer, Waldi Haarhof, calculating the sea swells, jumped from the rescue craft onto the moving casualty craft.
All care and safety were observed.
Fortunately, sea conditions were calm with only light winds.
Once onboard the casualty craft NSRI's Waldi cut the motor power, and the casualty craft was brought to a halt.
We then transferred the skipper of the casualty boat from EME back onto his own boat.
The outboard motor was restarted and, with the skipper back at the helm of his boat, the NSRI rescue craft escorted his boat safely back to shore where the casualty boat was recovered without incident.
It appears that 2 boats had launched to go sea together this morning to go fishing.
While at sea one boat, with 2 local men onboard, reportedly turned around to go back to shore when one of the 2 men fell overboard.
The skipper attempted to pull his crewman back onto the boat but while doing so he then also fell out the boat.
It appears that during these events the kill switch had not engaged causing their boat to carry on underway while turning in circles around them.
A refuse bag and a cooler box had fallen overboard with them.
They inflated the refuse bag and used both the inflated refuse bag and the cooler box as floatation, but they had no way of raising the alarm.
Fortunately, their friends, on the open fishing craft EME, had happened to come across them, and rescued both men from the water and they raised the alarm.
The quick thinking of the 2 casualties, to make best use of what they had as floatation, the rescue operation by EME, the swift response of NSRI as well as the NSRI coxswain and rescue swimmer for safely securing the casualty boat, is commended.
Safety Alert:
NSRI are appealing to motor boaters to always ensure that their kill switch is in working order, attached and operational.
A kill switch, also known as an engine cutoff switch - looks like a long keyring of sorts where a chord attaches to the skipper of the boat.
Ensures that boat's motor will shut off automatically in the case of an emergency – where you fall overboard or if you yank the chord to disconnect, causing the engine to shut down.
We are also appealing to boaters to wear a life-jacket and have your safety equipment close at hand.
Download and use the NSRI SafeTrx smart phone app when launching your craft on water.
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