On 11 August 2009 at 15h38 the NSRI Hout Bay duty crew and NSRI Kommetjie duty crew were activated following a report of 33 year old Cape Town surfer, Rynard Fourie, missing in the surf during big wave surfing taking place at the popular surf spot Dungeons, near to Hout Bay, in 7 metre swells.
NSRI Hout Bay launched their rescue craft MTU Nadine Gordimer and Albie Matthews and NSRI Kommetjie launched their rescue craft Spirit of Rotary Winelands and the Metro Red Cross AMS helicopter was activated.
It was confirmed that the stand-by safety boats, which stand-by on the scene at Dungeons during big wave surfing, had initiated a search. The stand-by safety command boat Whale Song and her two fellow stand-by boats Calypso, Asis and 6 jet-ski’s, which are used to pull big wave surfers to assist them to catch waves, searched the area and found the surfer approximately half a nautical mile from where he had initially dissapeared. The local boat Lunatic, which was on the scene observing the big wave surfing, had also joined in and assisted in the search.
The surfer was found safely briefly after going missing and it appears he had dissapeared while being pulled to catch a wave but after taking a tumble the spotters had lost sight of him and he had drifted away in currents until being found.
NSRI Hout Bay’s rescue craft Albie Matthews arrived on-scene and confirmed that the surfer had been found and was safe aboard the boat Whale Song and that he was not injured and required no further assistance.
The NSRI’s remaining responding resources were stood-down to return to base and the Metro Red Cross AMS helicopter was stood-down to return to base.
It is standard procedure for the NSRI to be activated in the event of an emergency and standard protocol during this big wave surfing at Dungeons.
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