Spirit of Ubuntu put to the test in dramatic Hout Bay rescue

A complex overnight rescue on the Cape Peninsula has given the NSRI’s newest Offshore Rescue Craft, Spirit of Ubuntu, an early opportunity to demonstrate exactly why this new generation of rescue vessel is so important to the organisation’s work.

On Sunday evening, 27 September, a 39-year-old German tourist was injured while hiking with his wife on the Karbonkelberg trail above Maori Bay, between Llandudno and Hout Bay. The couple were in an exceptionally remote section of coastline, and while Metro EMS, Wilderness Search and Rescue teams and Table Mountain National Park rangers were able to reach them on foot, safely getting the injured man off the mountain before nightfall presented a far more difficult challenge.

With the terrain too dangerous for a conventional evacuation and strong winds ruling out an immediate helicopter rescue, the NSRI was asked to assist from the sea. At 18h09, the volunteer crew at NSRI Station 8 Hout Bay were activated and two rescue craft, Spirit of Ubuntu and Albie Matthews, launched for Maori Bay.

By the time the rescue vessels arrived, darkness had fallen. White illuminating flares were deployed to light the cliff face and shoreline while teams assessed whether the casualty could be lowered from the mountain using technical high-angle rescue equipment and transferred onto one of the waiting rescue craft. However, worsening spring-tide conditions and increasing winds made the sea operation too dangerous to continue, and the difficult decision was taken to suspend the evacuation for the night.

The NSRI crews returned to Hout Bay shortly before 22h00, while EMS paramedics, Wilderness Search and Rescue members and SANParks rangers remained with the injured man and his wife throughout the night. The injured man remained in a stable condition, and the following morning an EMS/AMS Skymed rescue helicopter was deployed in another attempt to evacuate him. Once again, the Cape weather intervened. Gusting South-South-Easterly winds of around 35 knots forced the helicopter crew to abort the operation.

At 08h00 on Monday morning, the Hout Bay crew were activated for a second time and Spirit of Ubuntu returned to Maori Bay carrying a Metro EMS rescue paramedic. A carefully coordinated technical rescue then began, with the injured man and his wife lowered down the cliff face using climbing ropes to rocks at the water’s edge.

NSRI rescue swimmers then entered the water and used a small floating CROC rescue craft to move the couple away from the shoreline and through the surf to a rigid-hull inflatable rescue boat. Once clear of the surf zone, they were transferred onto Spirit of Ubuntu, where the injured hiker was placed in the care of the EMS paramedic for the journey back to Hout Bay.

After a night on the mountain and a rescue operation involving teams on land, in the air and at sea, the couple were finally brought safely back to the NSRI Hout Bay rescue base. The injured man is reported to be recovering well and is expected to make a full recovery.

For the companies already supporting the Spirit of Ubuntu campaign, the rescue is a powerful example of what their contribution is helping to make possible.

Spirit of Ubuntu forms part of the NSRI’s programme to replace its ageing fleet of Offshore Rescue Craft with vessels capable of operating further offshore, for longer periods and in demanding sea conditions. These vessels provide greater protection for volunteer crews, more space for casualties and medical personnel, and the endurance required for complex rescues that can last many hours.

The weekend’s operation demonstrated that capability in very real terms. When the terrain made a land evacuation difficult, strong winds prevented a helicopter rescue and deteriorating sea conditions forced rescuers to rethink their approach, the vessel was able to return the following morning and provide the platform needed to complete the evacuation safely.

The rescue also reflects the thinking behind the vessel’s name: Ubuntu, “I am because we are”, speaks to the collective effort required to save lives at sea and around South Africa’s coastline. In this case, volunteer rescue crews, paramedics, mountain rescuers, park rangers and supporters of the NSRI all formed part of the same chain that ultimately brought two people home safely.

Through the Spirit of Ubuntu campaign, a limited number of South African businesses are contributing R1 million each towards the vessel, with participating brands recognised within its distinctive RESCUE identity. For those partners, the value extends well beyond having a name displayed on a rescue boat. Their support is helping to provide volunteer crews with the equipment and capability they need when conditions are at their most difficult.

For existing partners, this rescue is a tangible example of that investment already at work. For organisations still considering becoming part of the Spirit of Ubuntu campaign, it is the clearest demonstration yet of what the partnership represents: helping ensure that when someone needs rescuing, the NSRI has the vessel, the crew and the capability to reach them.