NSRI conducts harrowing rescue of surf-skiers

Two surf-skiers were rescued in what the NSRI described as an extremely challenging rescue operation amid fading light and gusting gale force winds near Simon’s Town.

The surf-skiers were spotted by a concerned resident on Thursday at about 4.43pm, said Simon’s Town duty coxswain, Andrew de Kock.

De Kock said the resident provided information that a surf-skier appeared to be in trouble approximately 200 meters off-shore of Froggy Pond, between Simon’s Town and Millers Point.

The NSRI Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) received an emergency activation on the NSRI SafeTrx from a double surf-ski in that area.

“They reported one man was able to remain on the surf-ski, but that the other man had fallen off, was unable to remount and was now in the water, hanging onto the back of the surf-ski.” The men reportedly got into difficulty due to a broken rudder, rough seas and strong winds, said De Kock.

“On arrival on the scene, conditions were poor with fading light, gusting gale force North Westerly winds whipping sea spray, 1 to 1.5 meter sea swells and white water wind chop sea swells and near blinding sea spray, that saw drenching waves come over the wheel house and over the stern deck, we found both men to be in peril. One man was still onboard the surf-ski and the other man was in the water holding onto the surf-ski and he appeared to be severely hypothermic. They had discarded one of their paddles and were using the other paddle to signal their position.”