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SAVED BY SAFETRX Another successful rescue after a SafeTRX activation
SAVED BY SafeTRX
During the past year, more and more stories have emerged of water users who have found themselves in trouble on the water being helped quickly and efficiently after activating SafeTRX. Robin Mousley shares another successful rescue.
FOR SOME TIME, Paul Daniels had felt that something wasn’t quite right with his fishing kayak. As he attempted to turn to go back to Three Anchor Bay, his suspicions turned to certainty – there was water in the hull and the kayak had become unstable. The next wave tipped the kayak and in an instant he was in the cold Atlantic water, next to the upturned hull.
MASSIVE SWELLS
When Paul and his fishing buddy Luke Skinner had arrived at Three Anchor Bay on the morning of 19 September, they’d been looking forward to a morning on their kayaks – but when they saw the massive swells closing out across the mouth of the little bay, they had second thoughts.
Taking their time, the two men watched the waves and noticed a long gap between sets when the sea became relatively calm. ‘In the end we
Above: Paul Daniels, safely aboard the rescue craft Spirit of Day. Right: Luke Skinner helping his friend.
only launched at about 07h30,’ says Paul. ‘We could see there was time between the sets to get out and to come back safely.’
A former NSRI crewman (he served six years at Strandfontein), Paul had also worked on cargo ships with Safmarine and was no stranger to the sea. He’d owned his fishing kayak since July and this was his fifth trip. The men were well equipped with safety gear and both had just installed the NSRI SafeTRX tracker app on their phones.
A TURN FOR THE WORSE
Safe beyond the break, Paul and Luke set up their lines and commenced fishing, slowly paddling south along the coast. Despite the rolling swell,
the two men had an enjoyable morning – but the fish weren’t biting. That, along with the fact that his kayak was beginning to feel tippy, convinced Paul that it was time to head home.
‘A little bit of wind chop was beginning to develop,’ says Paul. ‘And as I turned the boat, the angle of the waves changed – and that was when I fell off.’
He remounted several times and attempted to bail some of the water out of the hull. ‘When the boat capsized, water also got into the dry hatch,’ he says. That didn’t help.
While Paul tried to get rid of the water in his kayak, Luke attached a tow rope and tried to paddle them towards Three Anchor Bay. ‘With the weight of the water in Paul’s kayak, we weren’t making much progress,’ Luke says.
Then a new factor came into play: between their position (1.5km off Clifton) and Three Anchor Bay is an area of shallow water and rocks known as the Lion’s Paw. The huge swell was breaking over the rocks, turning a wide area into a maelstrom of white water.
‘I figured we’d have to paddle a mile out to sea to get around it,’ Luke says, explaining that he could have made it on his own – but there was no hope that he’d make it towing the stricken kayak.
The men were in no immediate danger. Even though Paul had swum several times, he was wearing a 3mm wetsuit and wasn’t affected by the cold water yet.
‘I thought we were pretty calm,’ Paul says. ‘But I was probably stressing inside!’
The crew of Spirit of Day, after the exercise that turned into a rescue.
TIME TO CALL
The time had clearly come to call for help, so Paul triggered the SafeTRX app on his phone. ‘It was easy to use the phone inside the waterproof pouch while my hands were dry,’ he says. When the return call came from the NSRI Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), he was in the water again but handed his phone to Luke. Paul’s
phone battery was running low, however, so Luke triggered SafeTRX on his phone too and took over the call.
In a happy coincidence, the NSRI Table Bay sea rescue craft Spirit of Day was at sea at the time, conducting a training course near Robben Island with five NSRI trainee crew on board. The craft was alerted by the EOC and directed to the position passed by the SafeTRX app.
‘They were with us within about 15 minutes,’ says Paul. ‘Thanks to SafeTRX, the rescue was almost a non-event.’
The two kayaks were loaded onto the 6.5m RIB, the water was drained from Paul’s kayak in the process and the relieved men were taken to shore in Granger Bay.
‘I called my wife from the boat to tell her we’d been rescued,’ Paul laughs. ‘She didn’t believe me, so I had to take a selfie to prove it.’
In hindsight, he says, he wouldn’t go out in conditions like that again. ‘We checked afterwards and the swell was running at 4.7 to 5.2m out at sea.
Paul recommends that everybody watches the weather and makes sure they have the appropriate safety gear before they go onto the water. ‘If you do have a problem, stay with your craft,’ he adds. ‘SafeTRX is a definite winner.’
The NSRI’s free RSA SafeTrx application is available to download from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store
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