WHAT IT MEANS TO SAVE A LIFE

A day of fishing and swimming turned into a lifeand-death situation as two friends were pulled out to sea in a rip. Thanks to ongoing rescue efforts from bystanders and Oyster Bay crew, the young couple was saved. Cherelle Leong shares their story.

ON SUNDAY 11 DECEMBER 2022, Klayton Joubert and his girlfriend, Elektra Meyer, visited Eersterivier Beach in Tsitsikamma to go fishing with a group of friends and family. It was a warm day and while Klayton and three of his friends headed to the rocks to set up their fishing rods, the rest of the group relaxed on the beach. The waves were relatively calm at the time, so Elektra decided to go for a swim. Klayton and his friends soon joined her.

What they didn’t know was that the tide was turning. Suddenly, without warning, Elektra found she was being dragged out to sea and could no longer stand. Seeing she was in difficulty,

Klayton swam out to help her. He knew he needed to stay calm and try to keep Elektra calm too, but she was starting to panic. When he reached her, she tried to hang onto him. He told her to take hold of his leg so that he could attempt to swim them out of the rip current. Despite his best efforts, Elektra was unable to hold on – they were soon separated and Klayton was pulled further out by the current, in the direction of the rocks.

Meanwhile, bystanders on the beach had seen the pair being swept out to sea. They rushed to fetch the NSRI Pink Rescue Buoy and threw it towards Elektra. Klayton, on the other hand, was able to grab a body board that had been thrown towards him. One of the bystanders, Simon Bekker, a 66-year-old former navy diver, got into the water to assist Elektra, who at least had hold of the Pink Rescue Buoy by then. Although Simon worked hard to swim her out of the current, they became separated too. Next he swam towards the rocks where Klayton was, but he couldn’t get close to him without putting himself in danger. After signalling to Klayton to try to swim away from the rocks, Simon retreated back to the beach.

Just In Time

By this stage Elektra was fatigued from fighting the increasingly rough water and had lost her hold on the buoy. Jan Bester, 55, who had been walking on the beach with his family and seen the drama unfolding, launched into the water, wear ing swimming fins, to assist Elektra. Jan reached her just in time – she was barely conscious and struggling to stay above the water. He managed to use some of the floating objects that bystanders had thrown towards the casualties to swim her safely back to shore.

From casualty to crew: after he and his girlfriend were saved, Klayton decided to join Oyster Bay.

It was around this time that NSRI Oyster Bay crew member Jaen Smit arrived on the beach. Elektra was brought out of the water unconscious and not breathing, so Jaen immediately initiated medical treatment. He recalls how scary it was to see just how much water she had taken in. Jaen continued until she started gagging and coughing and finally started breathing. Gradually she regained consciousness and, although she complained of feeling sore and claustrophobic, she was responsive and able to keep breathing on her own.

NSRI Oyster Bay crew.

Jan had fetched his 4x4 vehicle in the meantime and driven it onto the beach. An ambulance was on its way, but it was a long drive and would take a while.

Confident that Elektra was stable enough to be transported, they loaded her into the vehicle and Jan departed to meet the ambulance along the way.

Holding On For Dear Life

During this time, Klayton was being swept closer and closer to the rocks, as rough seas made it difficult to hold onto the body board he was using for flotation. Suddenly, through the fog, a jet-ski appeared. Klayton had been focusing on keeping calm and was more concerned about Elektra than himself. But when he saw the jet-ski, he was incred- ibly relieved. The jet-ski had been launched from Skuitbaai by Pieter Kruger and his 15-year-old son Steph, who at the time were visiting relatives in the area.

The rough surf and close proximity to the rocks made it tricky to bring the jet-ski close enough to Klayton, and he was so weak he couldn’t swim to them. Eventually Pieter could manoeuvre the machine close enough that they could grab the front of the body board Klayton was hanging onto. They then gradually made their way out of the danger zone with Klayton holding onto a bar at the back of the jet-ski.

Once they were in a safe area, Pieter handed the helm to Steph so that he could pull Klayton onto the jet-ski, after which they made their way back to the Skuitbaai launch site. Klayton had sustained cuts on his ribs and knees where he’d been bashed against the rocks, and he was cold and exhausted – but he was alive. When he heard that Elektra had been recovered from the water and was stable and on her way to hospital, the emotion of the moment got to him. He recalls saying, through his tears, ‘Don’t call my father; it’s his birthday.’

Elektra has since made a full recovery and Klayton has joined Sea Rescue as a junior trainee at the NSRI satellite station at Eersterivier. He has always wanted to join Sea Rescue, and now he knows personally what it means to save a life.