Cape Point, 08th August, 2009: At 09h04 the NSRI Simonstown duty crew were activated following a request for urgent assistance from the 17 foot Dolphin ski-boat Cinnamon reported to be taking water fast and at risk of capsizing, 300 metres off-shore of Buffels Bay, Cape Point, with owner and skipper Brent Miller and his crewman Ian Klopper on-board, in 2 metre swells and a 7 knot South Easterly wind.
It was unknown what was causing their boat to fill with water.
NSRI Simonstown launched both their rescue craft, Spirit of Safmarine III and Eddie Beaumont, The Metro Ambulance and Rescue Services and the Metro Red Cross AMS helicopter were placed on alert.
Chris Fallows, who was at sea on his private boat at the time in the area, was also diverted to respond towards the scene and a Navy harbour patrol boat from the SA Naval Base in Simonstown responded.
NSRI rescue swimmer Craig Lambinon was dispatched to respond to stand-by at Millers Point car park to be picked up by the Metro Red Cross AMS helicopter if the casualty boat had capsized.
The two experienced seamen, using a water extrication pump to pump water out of the boat, were able to get their boat under motor power which further assisted to drain water from the hull and they managed to bring the casualty craft into Millers Point slip-way, safely, prior to the NSRI rescue crafts arrival on-scene and no further assistance was required after they safely recovered the boat onto her trailer.
The water extrication pump alone was not draining water from the hull faster than what it appeared to be filling up.
Once safely recovered it was ascertained that a 50 cm crack in the hull had caused the boat to fill with water. It is unknown what caused the hull to crack but it is suspected that they may have hit a semi-submerged object while under motor power heading out to sea.
The craft was drained of all water, from the hull, once it was out of the water on her trailer.
Brent and Ian said they had been heading out to fish at Rocky Banks, 14 nautical miles off-shore of Cape Point, but after noticing some fishing activity in the vicinity of Buffels Bay they had decided to spend some time fishing at Buffels Bay before heading on to Rocky Banks.
They said that they had both noticed the boat was handling a bit sluggish in the water but didn’t think too much of it and they said that there was no indication that they had hit anything while under power.
On hooking their first Snoek of the day Ian said he opened the fish hatch, to store the Snoek, but was met by a hatch full of water. The 2 men immediately also noticed that the engines were almost completely submerged in the water and that the boat was almost up to her gunnels submerged in water.
Fearing that the boat may capsize and realizing that the hull of the boat was almost completely full of water Ian called the NSRI emergency number and then he called his friend, Chris Fallows, who he knew was at sea at the time in the area, giving their position, their intentions and declaring an emergency.
They managed to start a water extrication pump and, donning their life-jackets and with their emergency capsize kit at the ready, they started the boats engines and managed to nurse her onto a plain heading towards Millers Point. The bungs were removed to assist with draining water from the (now) moving boat but they said that they were both holding their breath fearing that the boat may capsize at any moment.
Because of the bad cellphone reception in the area and because they had lost battery and radio power Ian continued to sms their position and their progress to the responding rescue resources knowing that if they had capsized and if they had lost cellphone reception the responding rescue resources would have been able to find them a lot easier by using their last known position.
Brent, who is a Master Mariner, and Ian, who is the NSRI Kommetjie station commander and an NSRI Class 1 Rescue Coxswain, both from Noordhoek, managed to nurse their boat all the way to Millers Point and arrived without any assistance, safely, at the same time that the rescue resources were arriving on the scene.
Both men are relieved that they had discovered the ingress of water while still close to land and fear a worse outcome may have been inevitable had they headed straight out to Rocky Banks as was their initial intention.
Darren Zimmerman, NSRI Simonstown station commander, said that it was commendable that Ian and Brent had sent us the continuous updates of their position and of their progress and that had the boat capsized this would have made it extremely easy for the rescue resources to find them without any delays. Too often a casualty calls in an emergency and we find them miles away from where they said they were after they’ve tried to rescue themselves without telling the rescuers who are responding to the initial position they gave, said Darren!
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