A sunny afternoon in Table Bay turned problematic for some water sports enthusiasts on Sunday. NSRI Bakoven and NSRI Table Bay duty crews were alerted to eyewitness reports of a man on a sea kayak appearing to be in difficulties after he was witnessed falling out of the kayak and climbing back on multiple times off-shore of Rocklands Beach on Sunday afternoon.
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There were two men on sea kayaks at the location and one of them appeared to be in trouble.
NSRI, aware that at the time sea conditions were calm and that this sounded unusual in such calm seas, dispatched some volunteer rescue crew from NSRI Bakoven and from NSRI Table Bay to observe from the shoreline, from the promenade above the Three Anchor Bay slipway.
At the same time, duty crews were requested to prepare a rescue craft to launch if deemed to be necessary.
‘It was observed by our NSRI shore crew, that there were two men on two sea kayaks, about 150m off-shore of Rocklands Beach (in the vicinity off-shore of Winchester Mansions Hotel) where one man appeared to be falling out of his sea kayak and then getting back onto his sea kayak. It seemed unusual in the calm seas,’ stated the NSRI.
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‘While it did seem that this might be deliberate – at the time our NSRI Table Bay and our NSRI Bakoven duty phones were receiving additional phone calls from concerned eyewitnesses who were raising the alarm suspecting that the man was in grave danger.’
‘Our NSRI EOC (Emergency Operations Centre) and TNPA (Transnet National Ports Authority) Table Bay Port Control were also receiving phone calls from concerned public members raising the alarm confirming that they suspected the paddler to be in trouble.’
‘It did seem unusual – from our NSRI shore crew who had responded to see for themselves (from the shoreline) – that other paddlers, quite a few of them, who were in the area at the time, seemed to not be showing any concern.’
With the water temperature measured to be between 9.5 and 10 degrees Celsius, NSRI decided to launch a rescue craft, as they feared that if the man was in difficulty, he would be displaying signs and symptoms of hypothermia – particularly because hypothermia accelerates when you get out of cold water and are subject to wind chill.
The NSRI Bakoven rescue craft, Gemini Legend, was launched.
‘On arrival on the scene, about 500 meters off-shore, between Rocklands Beach and Graafs Pool, we found that the paddler, a local man, was only practicing – while falling out and re-mounting his paddle craft – and he required no assistance. A novice paddler, he was learning to paddle and making best use of the calm sea conditions to practice!’
Shortly after this incident, the NSRI was again called into action.
‘While our NSRI rescue craft was returning to base we received a call from an eye-witness reporting two men off-shore of Bakoven Rock and they were waving towards the shore appearing to be trying to attract attention and appearing to be in difficulty.’
‘Both our NSRI Bakoven duty phone and our NSRI EOC (Emergency Operations Centre) were now receiving calls reporting two men in trouble about 500 meters off-shore of Bakoven Rock.’
‘The NSRI Bakoven rescue craft Gemini Legend responded and on arrival on the scene we rescued two men, local brothers, both on inflatable sea-kayaks.’
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Picture: Katja Anokhina / Unsplash