On 16 April at 14h42 NSRI Simonstown volunteers were activated following reports of a paddler, on a surf-ski, reported to be in difficulty in the vicinity of 3 nautical miles off-shore of Whittle Rock, 8 nautical miles South of Simonstown.
GPS (Global Positioning System) coordinates were provided to NSRI Simonstown by the paddler of his position. Soon after receiving these coordinates communications between the paddler and NSRI were lost which is suspected to be due to a cell signal “shadow” in the area.
It was soon learned by NSRI that 10 paddlers had launched from Hangklip on a “downwind paddle” from Hangklip to Fish Hoek earlier in the day and with rough sea conditions of 5 to 6 meter breaking swells and a gusting up to 40 knot South Easterly wind it was suspected by NSRI that all 10 paddlers may be in difficulty and may be unaccounted for and our NSRI Simonstown volunteers launched their sea rescue craft Spirit of Safmarine III and the Metro EMS Red Cross AMS helicopter was activated.
Further information came to light that the paddlers, a group of experienced and seasoned paddlers, had contacted NSRI Gordon’s Bay on Thursday last week informing the NSRI of their intended paddle but they had declined the NSRI’s offer to dispatch a safety boat to trail them on their paddle.
Then at 14h54, just as NSRI Simonstown’s Spirit of Safmarine III was exiting Simonstown Harbor, a Mayday Distress VHF radio call was received from the 7.6 meter British yacht Harrier of Down reporting to have been hit by a wave and taking water in the vicinity of Roman Rock (off-shore of Simonstown).
“The decision for NSRI Simonstown’s rescue craft to first go to the yachts aid was made while we now also activated NSRI Gordon’s Bay to proceed in the direction of the paddlers GPS position,” said Darren Zimmerman, NSRI Simonstown station commander. “At that stage, based on the sea conditions, we were under the impression that all 10 paddlers were in distress and a shore based contact person for the paddlers couldn’t tell us if the paddlers were in one group or in separate groups so our feeling was that NSRI Gordon’s Bay could begin a search for additional paddlers as they responded in the direction of the GPS position provided by the paddler (who was off Whittle Rock).
“We then requested the Metro EMS Red Cross AMS helicopter to fly directly to the GPS coordinates, that the paddler had provided to us, and to investigate that scene on their arrival but also to cover a search of the shoreline between Fish Hoek and Whittle Rock to “spot” for any of the other paddlers,” said Darren.
On NSRI Simonstown’s arrival at the yachts side the yacht, heavy laden in the water, was found with a solo British yachtsman onboard reporting that his yacht had been broadsided by a wave and had toppled over causing some cabin flooding and the yacht had subsequently been taking a hammering from the 5 to 6 meter breaking swells.
His last port of call had been Mossel Bay Harbor.
A towline was quickly rigged and the yacht was safely towed into Simonstown Harbor by NSRI Simonstown and once in the safety of the Harbor the tow was handed over into the care of a False Bay Yacht Club tender boat which effectively released NSRI Simonstown to continue on the original call-out for the paddlers.
In the meantime NSRI Gordon’s Bay were making headway for Whittle Rock aboard their rescue craft Jack Riley and they had not come across any of the paddlers en-route and meanwhile the Metro EMS Red Cross AMS helicopter had located two paddlers at Whittle Rock and the rescue helicopter hovered above these two paddlers marking their position for the approaching sea rescue craft.
The two paddlers at Whittle Rock were taken aboard NSRI Gordon’s Bay’s sea rescue craft and one of the paddlers was treated for hypothermia and they were both transported to NSRI Gordon’s Bay’s rescue base.
“In the meantime NSRI Simonstown, believing that the remaining paddlers were also in distress had begun a search and rescue operation for the remaining paddlers (who we still suspected to all be in some form of difficulty on the open waters) while our NSRI rescue vehicle scoured the shoreline between Millers Point and Fish Hoek Beach,” said Darren, “and 4 paddlers were found to be safely ashore at Millers Point and 4 paddlers were found to be safely ashore at Fish Hoek Beach and they all required no assistance.”
The paddlers confirmed to NSRI that they had made the passage across False Bay in pairs using a “buddy” system and that they were well prepared for the trip and were all carrying sufficient safety equipment. 4 of the paddlers had overshot Fish Hoek and had decided to make a run for Millers Point and two of the paddlers found themselves in the vicinity of Whittle Rock where one of these two paddlers began to succumb to the beginning stages of hypothermia and he and his “buddy” decided that the responsible thing to do would be to request the help of NSRI Simonstown since they still had quite a way to go before reaching Millers Point.
The remaining 8 paddlers who were not in any difficulty were not aware that these two fellow paddlers had called for assistance nor were they aware that a search and rescue operation had been launched by NSRI.
All of the paddlers confirmed to NSRI that the rough sea conditions were ideal for their extreme paddling experience and that while they had been prepared to be separated from each other along the way they were committed to and were able to remain in pairs (acting as a buddy system) and although six of the paddlers had overshot Fish Hoek Beach they had been prepared for that possibility and of those six paddlers who overshot the mark 4 had simply continued on to Millers Point and the remaining two had reached Whittle Rock where they had decided to call NSRI for assistance as only one of the two men was starting to feel the effects of hypothermia.
It appears that a small breach in communications between the paddlers and NSRI had led to the NSRI having the impression that all of the paddlers were in distress sparking a major search and rescue operation and the paddlers have agreed to bridge a closer communications working with NSRI when they embark on these extreme paddles.
These ten paddlers were instrumental in the recent donation of the sea rescue craft Spirit of Surfski made to NSRI Gordon’s Bay.
