5 paddlers lost in dense fog safely rescued off Clifton

Five paddlers who became lost in dense fog off the Atlantic Seaboard on Tuesday, 13 October, are safe after a SafeTRX emergency alert from one of their group led NSRI crews to them 1.3 nautical miles off Clifton.

Five paddlers who became lost in dense fog off the Atlantic Seaboard on Tuesday, 13 October, are safe after a SafeTRX emergency alert from one of their group led NSRI crews to them 1.3 nautical miles off Clifton.

NSRI regional operations manager Dean Wegerle said that at 08h50 on Tuesday, 13 October, NSRI Table Bay and NSRI Bakoven duty crews were activated following an NSRI SafeTRX emergency alert from a paddler on a sea-kayak offshore of Three Anchor Bay on the Atlantic Seaboard, Cape Town.

The NSRI Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) investigated and determined that five paddlers, two local women aged 60 and 59 and three German tourists aged 35, 26 and 21, on one single and two double sea-kayaks, had become disorientated in dense fog after launching earlier from the Three Anchor Bay slipway.

Only one SafeTRX app was in use among the three sea-kayaks, and its emergency beacon showed the group drifting towards Bantry Bay. In communication with the lead sea-kayaker, it was confirmed that they had become disorientated in the fog and were adrift without knowing which way the land lay, but that they were staying together.

The NSRI training department, which was preparing to launch routine training exercises from the NSRI Table Bay Station 3 rescue base, launched the rescue craft Colorpress Rescuer. NSRI Table Bay and NSRI Bakoven duty crews remained on alert, and an NSRI Atlantic Seaboard rescue swimmer responded to the land side along Sea Point Beach Road.

Members of Atlantic Adventures, a local tourist kayak company based at Granger Bay, had earlier postponed their clients’ planned launches for safety reasons because of the dense fog. They were still in the area on land and volunteered to help when they spotted three kayakers offshore of Granger Bay. Atlantic Adventures launched their safety support craft, which is normally used when their tourist kayakers are at sea, and reached the three kayakers. It was confirmed that they were not the paddlers who had raised the alarm, and they came ashore safely at Granger Bay, accompanied by the safety support craft.

The NSRI rescue craft reached the area offshore of Saunders Rocks, Bantry Bay, where, during a search in dense fog, the five casualty paddlers were located 1.3 nautical miles offshore of Clifton. They were rescued onto the rescue craft and treated for mild hypothermia, and their sea-kayaks were recovered.

NSRI Table Bay dispatched the NSRI rescue vehicle to OPBC (Oceana Power Boat Club) to await the arrival of the rescue craft. The five paddlers were brought to OPBC onboard the rescue craft, and, as they needed no further assistance, NSRI gave them a lift by car back to their vehicles at Three Anchor Bay. All were in good spirits.

NSRI has appealed to paddlers launching in groups to download and use the NSRI SafeTRX smartphone safety app, as sea and weather conditions can cause groups of paddlers to be separated at sea.