5 Paddlers Lost in Dense Fog Rescued

Dean Wegerle, NSRI regional operations manager, said: At 08h50, 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, Atlantic Seaboard, Cape Town.

NSRI EOC (Emergency Operations Centre) investigated where it was determined that 5 paddlers, 2 local females, ages 60 and 59, and 3 German male tourists, ages 35, 26 and 21, on 1 single sea-kayak and 2 double sea-kayaks, had become disorientated in dense fog after launching earlier at the Three Anchor Bay slipway.

Only one NSRI SafeTRX app was in use amongst the three sea-kayaks, indicating that SafeTRX emergency beacon to be drifting towards Bantry Bay.

In communications with the lead sea-kayaker it was confirmed that in dense fog they had become disorientated and they were adrift without knowing which way to landwards but they were maintaining staying together.

Our NSRI training department, preparing to launch on routine training exercises at that time from the NSRI Table Bay station 3 rescue base, launched the NSRI rescue craft Colorpress Rescuer.

NSRI Table Bay and NSRI Bakoven duty crews remained on alert.

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, who had earlier in the day postponed clients in their own planned tourist sea-kayaking launches at Granger Bay (postponed for safety reasons due to the dense fog that was present in the area at the time), but whose members were still in the area on the land side, they volunteered to assist, when they spotted 3 kayakers offshore of Granger Bay.

Atlantic Adventures launched their safety support craft (that is normally used when their tourist kayakers are at sea) and that Atlantic Adventures safety support craft reached those 3 kayakers (offshore of Granger Bay) where it was confirmed that they were not the same kayakers who had raised the alarm – those 3 kayakers came ashore safely at Granger Bay accompanied by the Atlantic Adventures safety support craft.

The NSRI rescue craft reached the area offshore of Saunders Rocks, Bantry Bay, where during a search, in dense fog, the 5 casualty kayakers were located 1.3 nautical miles offshore of Clifton.

The 5 casualty kayakers were rescued onto our NSRI rescue craft and they were treated for mild hypothermia. 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 NSRI rescue craft.

The 5 casualty kayakers were brought, onboard our NSRI rescue craft, to OPBC where requiring 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 – when launching in groups we advise all persons involved to download and use the NSRI SafeTRX smart phone safety app as it can happen where sea and weather conditions cause groups of paddlers to be separated at sea.