At 01h33, Thursday, 9th March, NSRI Hermanus duty crew were activated following a request for urgent assistance from the yacht Cosmos reporting to be taking water with rudder steering problems in gale force winds deep-sea South West of Hermanus with 3 crew onboard (from Turkey, Indonesia and Cape Town).
On investigation it was determined that the yacht, her last Port of call Mossel Bay and limping towards Simonstown, were further West than initially anticipated and at 02h19 NSRI Simonstown duty crew were activated and the sea rescue craft Spirit of Safmarine III was launched.
The skipper reported the yacht to have a cracked hull and steering problems from a damaged rudder from unknown causes.
In heavy seas with 3 to 4 meter swells and gale force winds our sea rescue craft rendezvoused with the yacht at 06h30, 7 nautical miles East of Cape Point, and we took the yacht under tow and towed her to Simonstown where our sea rescue craft Spirit of Surfski II was launched to assist to bring the yacht into the harbour and the yacht was safely moored at 10h00 and no further assistance was required.
