Sea Rescue magazine Winter 2010

Winner of the 2007 and 2009 PICA for Excellence in Magazine Publishing and J o u r n a l i s m i n t h e c at e g o ry B u s i n e s s to B u s i n e s s : E s s e n t i a l S e r v i c e s

Winter 2010

R14.95 > Free to NSRI members

the peculiar lives of

starfish two explorers ride to Kilimanjaro

trainee volunteer saves man caught in rip

samsa’s centre for boating The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) was established in 1998 in terms of the South African Maritime Safety Authority Act. SAMSA is a national maritime safety agency charged with the stewardship of South Africa’s maritime interests as its primary objective, including South Africa’s 400 dams and 24 navigable rivers, as per the Small Vessel Safety Regulations.

In December 2009, SAMSA launched its Arrive Alive campaign targeted at holidaymakers and boat owners using inland waters. The campaign consisted of several activations that were aimed at educating the consumer on safety regulations and tips on staying alive while enjoying our country’s inland and coastal waters. SAMSA, which has been referred to as the SAPS of our seas, aimed to encourage no drinking and driving on boats, wearing life jackets and ensuring that all skippers had a license to drive their boats – all this was done with the help of the NSRI and the SAPS Water Wing.

The Boating Safety Campaign was the first of its kind in South Africa and is a result of Government identifying a need for a central coordinator to regulate this space. Some of the key players were: •

• •

•

The Department of Water Affairs, which manages the water scheme on behalf of Government.

The municipalities within whose jurisdiction the dams are located.

The SAPS Water Wing, which is responsible for law enforcement and deploying divers to assist during accidents and incidents.

SANPARKS – most dams are located within nature reserves and camping sites.

Lessons learnt during this implementation made it necessary to look beyond just the safety aspects of the small vessels. The industry is large and employs a substantial number of people. The South African product has a good reputation in the international market (particularly yachting).

Also, South Africa has huge backlogs, and boating, repositioned properly, would provide the country with solutions to some of the social challenges relating to transportation, such as inadequate access to roads and bridges, and employment.

Some of the safety elements of the regulations have economic implications and impact on the economic performance of the industry.

Thus, during the implementation of the regulations, it became apparent to SAMSA that the initiative ought to cover more than just the safety aspects of boating.

In this regard, it became necessary to have a centre focused on all the aspects that would ensure a maximum benefit from the regulation.

These include: • • • • •

Safety Transformation Economic development Environmental sustainability Intergovernmental and industry cooperation

These aspects form the objectives of the SAMSA Centre for Boating, which was launched on 28 of January 2010 in the hopes of ensuring safety in and on South African waters.

The December campaign culminated in the launch of the Centre for Boating, a new centre aimed at ensuring that all small vessels meet SAMSA’s new safety regulations. The boating industry is well established in South Africa; it is primarily a leisure industry that is big on sailing, yachting, speedboating and water-skiing. A large percentage of these activities takes place at our inland waters, but the industry also has commercial and import interests.

As a result of accidents occurring on our inland waters, the Merchant Shipping Act Small Vessel Regulations came into being in 2007 with the intention of addressing the safety aspects of the boating industry. This was envisaged from construction (construction regulations) and operational points of view (certification of fitness for the boats and competency for the skippers). There are other safety measures relating to equipment to be carried on board and emergency procedures.

The roll out of the implementation of the regulations saw the last set of requirements being enforceable in terms of the regulations (issue of certificate of fitness for speedboats, etc, above 15 horsepower).

SAMSA. Safe Ships. Clean Seas.

CONTENTS winter 2010 FROM THE HELM

CEO Ian Wienburg has a word

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE Your views, the winning letter, manuals and DVDs for sale, and a chance to win with our subscription drive

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SAVING THE DAY Young trainee rescuer Kyle Zaayman races against time to rescue a bather pulled into the sea by a rip current

NEWS AND EVENTS Fundraising efforts, sponsor update and crew news

life boat circle More about our trip up the East Coast to visit our regular supporters and welcome some new ones to the fold

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plANTING FISHING RODS IN RURAL COMMUNITIES WaterWise’s new initiative trains volunteer teachers to impart vital water-safety information to community members in their home language

REACHING NEW HEIGHTS Two explorers cycle from St Francis to Kilimanjaro and back – all in aid of Sea Rescue

STARS OF THE SHOW We examine starfish and discover that these beautiful, colourful sea creatures are also voracious predators, full of peculiar and enchanting traits

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PASSION, EXCELLENCE AND A COMMUNITY SPIRIT Station 23 (Wilderness) is ready to hatch its butterfly

LISTEN UP More about surfer’s ear from our medical advisor Dr Cleeve Robertson

rescue reports station directory WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE...

Time stands still when you’re waiting for help

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SUBSCRIBE TO SEA RESCUE MAGAZINE AND STAND A CHANCE TO WIN A LUMI-NOX WATCH WORTH R3 750. see page 6 for more details.

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THE PUBLISHING PARTNERSHIP MANAGING EDITOR Wendy Maritz ART DIRECTOR Tara Keane ADVERTISING Jean Ramsay EXECUTIVE DirectorS Mark Beare, John Morkel Editorial address PO Box 15054, Vlaeberg 8018 TEL +2721 ­424-3517 FAX +2721 424-3612 Email wmaritz@tppsa.co.za Reproduction Hirt & Carter Printing ABC Press, Cape Town ISBN 1812-0644 Sea rescue marketing director Meriel Bartlett, NSRI, PO Box 154, Green Point 8051 TEL 082 994 7555 Email merielb@searescue.org.za web www.nsri.org.za CONTRIBUTORS Dave Sievwright, Craig Lambinon, Chris Hudson, Clive Shamley, Andrew Ingram, Krista French Produced for the NSRI by The Publishing Partnership (Pty) Ltd, PO Box 15054, Vlaeberg 8018. Copyright The Publishing Partnership (Pty) Ltd 2010. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without the prior permission of the editor. Opinions expressed are those of the authors and not NSRI. Offers are available while stocks last.

from the helm

ALL GUTS, NO GLORY Former US President Harry Truman once said, ‘It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you don’t care about who gets the credit.’ I think that sums up the ethos of Sea Rescue. Anyone who wants to be the hero or who has visions of leaping in front of the camera does not last long. All of us clean the bathrooms and wipe up after the casualties. Very few of the 920 unpaid volunteers appear on the evening news, and very few of them have their names published.

So while you may often see my name and my face or even more frequently hear the words ‘Craig Lambinon said....’, we are merely the mouthpiece for a phenomenal team.

This month I want to introduce to you a man who epitomises the gentlemanliness and humility that pervades our organisation.

Someone who is perhaps happiest out of the limelight and in the wings – but someone who has dedicated more than half of his life to Sea Rescue. I have been privileged to have Allan Cramb as my right-hand man since I stepped out of the rescue base and into the CEO’s chair.

Allan has been involved in Sea Rescue for 40 years. He joined Station 2 (Bakoven) at the tender age of 16, and would sit wide-eyed as he listened to ‘the elders’. He was, at first, too young to go to sea but he put in his time and eventually became a coxswain and then a station commander. In 1986, in a dreadful southeaster, Allan responded to a mayday call, and in the rough sea he crashed to the

PHOTOGRAPH: HENK KRUGER, CAPE ARGUS

The Crew

floor of the boat and broke his back. After three months in hospital and many more in a brace, he was still not done with us and joined the head office team. Allan is our operations director and is responsible for our fleet of boats and rescue 4x4 vehicles, the boathouse buildings, the maintenance schedule, our crew, the training and all rescue operations. It is an enormous portfolio and I don’t think I am wrong when I say that he has the respect of every single one of our 920 volunteers.

This is sounding a little like an obituary, so I shall make my point: within Sea Rescue there are many nuggets like Allan. Quiet and competent men and women of substance.

Every successful person in Sea Rescue has an equally valuable right-hand man or woman, and together we become a formidable team.

When we don’t care about who gets the credit, we really can do amazing things.

IAN WIENBURG CEO

NSRI Head Office: 1 Glengariff Road, Three Anchor Bay, Cape Town 8001 / PO Box 154, Green Point 8051 Tel: +2721 434-4011 Fax: +2721 434-1661

OUR REGIONAL OFFICES DURBAN: Durban Rescue Base, Small Craft Basin, Point Waterfront, Durban 4001 / PO Box 38446, Point 4069 Tel: +2731 332-9772 Fax: +2731 332-9773 PORT ELIZABETH: 216 Cape Road, Mill Park, Port Elizabeth 6001 / PO Box 7909, Newton Park, Port Elizabeth 6055 Tel: +2741 374-8315 Fax: +2741 374-8316 GAUTENG: Bouhof, 31 Robin Hood Road, Robindale, Randburg 2194 / PO Box 3432, Pinegowrie 2123 Tel: +2711 888-5451 Fax: +2711 888-5458

ON OUR COVER Station 23’s (WiIderness) 4.2m RIB Serendipity Photograph: Andrew Aveley, Station 12 (Knysna)

Should you need to contact the NSRI after hours, call: Meriel Bartlett, Marketing Director Tel: 082 994 7555 • merielb@searescue.org.za Craig Lambinon, NSRI Spokesman Tel: 082 380 3800 • lambinon@mweb.co.za

Readers’ letters

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

WE INVITE YOU TO AIR YOUR VIEWS, STATE YOUR CONCERNS OR SHARE YOUR COMMENTS WITH FELLOW MEMBERS OF THE SEA RESCUE FAMILY

WINNING LETTER Congratulations to Tim Edwards for writing the winning letter. Your case of Slaley wines is on its way to you.

farewell, uncle vic. we salute you!

As NSRI CEO Ian Wienburg said in his last column, a Sea Rescue crew member normally has to deal with aspects of the job that go far beyond the actual rescue situation. They will often have to console people whom they’ve never met, while news of a loved one is awaited. And sometimes, despite the operation going as well as it could, a casualty becomes a victim and the crew member has to deal with the possibility of this happening, despite their best efforts.

But one of the greatest emotional tests an NSRI crewperson will ever have to endure, should they ever encounter it, is the loss of one of their own, be it during a rescue operation or otherwise. Because the loss is so sudden and unexpected, it is a huge shock for all the crew, from the Statcom right down to the youngest junior crew.

As a relatively new crew member at Station 18 (Melkbosstrand), I, along with my fellow crew members, recently had to bid farewell to one of the stalwarts of our station, Uncle Vic Denner. Uncle Vic was a shore controller at our station and had only been with the station for five years, but his presence had a profound effect on just about everyone he came into contact with.

If his name rings a bell with you, you would be right. He was featured on the Sea Rescue DVD It’s What We Do. Although he wasn’t a seagoing crew member, he was instrumental in the well-oiled running of our station. If he wasn’t in the control room conducting an operation, he would be ensuring that there was hot tea and coffee awaiting a

cold and weary crew after an exercise or operation.

During the week he could be found at the station repairing anything that needed repairing, be it electrical, plumbing etc. He also had a knack for creating something he felt would make the lives of the crew easier. From shelves for our galley to a simple wooden base to house our spot lamp for our vessel in the boatshed when not in use – hardly anything was beyond Uncle Vic’s imagination.

He also never hesitated to impart advice, be it for training or life in general. Even though I only knew Vic for a little under two years, he made more of an impression on me than most people I have known my whole life. I will miss his banter at the table during handovers, as well as the chirping at our monthly station meetings. Farewell, Uncle Vic. We will all miss you terribly.

Tim Edwards, Station 18 (Melkbosstrand)

For my dad, Vic Denner I am writing this letter to commend all the crew of Station 18 (Melkbosstrand). The day of 21 April 2010 was the darkest day of my life when my beloved dad was taken suddenly from our family. My dad, Vic Denner, was on his way to ‘his second home’. A short while after he left, my mom got a call telling her there had been an accident of some kind.

When my mom reached the scene a few minutes later, the NSRI, fire brigade, ambulances, etc were already there. They all tried to keep Dad alive. He was taken to hospital, where they continued to try to save him but, tragically, after two hours of fighting, our Lord took him home. Rhine Barnes, I would like to thank you for the respect and dignity shown to our family during this awful time. Your compassion and kindness did not go unnoticed. To Dad’s crew, thank you for making him feel young and needed; he adored you guys.

I live in Shelly Beach on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast and each time my parents came to visit, I heard wonderful stories of all that goes on at the station. Dad could not wait to get back as he had to be at the base to

do his bit. He loved it and never tired of the excitement of helping others or doing much-needed maintenance work around the building. At the age of 76, he was a remarkable member of the Melkbosstrand base.

On 27 April it was arranged that our family would be taken by the NSRI to honour my dad’s final wish that his ashes be scattered out at sea. That day was one of the most heart-wrenching of our lives. When we arrived, there were about nine rubber ducks waiting for us and I think about 25 members who went out with us to say a final farewell.

After the ashes were scattered, all members jumped into the water for one final goodbye.

To the NSRI, thank you again. There are no other words, except continue your great work and you will never be forgotten. To my dad: I love you, Daddy; rest in peace until we meet again. My heart is heavy and sad, but I know you’re teasing the angels and watching over Mom, your kids, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Sharon Kapp

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SUBSCRIBE & win WE SHOULD ALL BE SUPPORTING SEA RESCUE I have just finished reading the latest issue of Sea Rescue (featuring the sole survivor of the Mandi tragedy and his wife) from cover to cover.

I was so uplifted and renewed that I simply had to write and tell you about it. I realised the fine calibre of the men and women who man the sea-rescue operations; they respond instantly and with the utmost dedication and courage. No setting up a committee to investigate all the levels, or debating the issue back and forth. It rekindles one’s faith in man’s intrinsic nobility. I admire with all my heart the wonderful training and resources that you are able to place at their disposal, and I am glad that I can support NSRI in a small way.

I say this is because a few months ago, my phone rang and a chirpy voice on the phone asked me if I would consider setting aside R100 per month to subscribe to the NSRI magazine. Well, I agreed instantly because I happened to know ‘Willy’ Massey-Hicks personally. She did the humerous drawings for your Christmas cards many years ago, and first made me aware of the NSRI. (I had featured her work on the front and back covers of SA Panorama, a full-colour glossy about South Africa that was distributed overseas as well.)

I met her in Johannesburg when I lived in Pretoria.

AM 3/16 11:53

2010/0

indd 1

Cover.

Everybody should support the NSRI: they stand for all that is best in humanity. I pray that you will gain more and more support as Sea Rescue is read more and more widely.

By the way, I have a son-in-law who is a great yachtsman, and a grandson who is an avid deep-sea fisherman and owns a boat, so my heart is with you!

Lesley Dellatola

HELPENDE HAND Op 14 April het ek en vier vriende gaan visvang. Ons boot het 21h00 die aand omgeslaan en ons is die volgende oggend 06h30 deur Gordonsbaai NSRI gered. Ons was nege ure in die water. Dit maak ’n mens se oë oop in die lewe. Ons wil net weer baie dankie sê vir die mans en vrou wat ons opgetel het. Julle sal altyd in ons gedagtes en harte bly. Twee van ons het besluit om elke maand geld aan julle te gee vir julle goeie diens.

Ons weet dis maar min maar elke bietjie help.

Johannes Fourie

SEA RESCUE MAGAZINE NOW ONLINE Visit www.magazines.co.za to view the latest issue of Sea Rescue magazine. This is a great way for friends and family overseas to keep up with what is happening in the Sea Rescue family.

Subscribe to Sea Rescue magazine and stand a chance to win!

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Self-powered by microgas tubes, the watch is visible in all light conditions, and therefore considered essential gear by the US Navy SEALs. Retails at R3 750.

Features: • Water-resistant to 200 metres • Undirectional revolving bezel • Hardened mineral glass • Poly-carbon reinforced case

For more information, visit www.luminox.com or email Doug Sutherland on sutson@icon.co.za

swiss made

Sea Rescue magazine showcases the rescue efforts of 920 volunteers at 30 bases around the coast and on three inland dams. Features include heroic stories of rescues, information on marine curiosities and essential water-safety tips for all water users. Sea Rescue also celebrates the donors and sponsors who make the rescues possible. By supporting Sea Rescue magazine with an annual subscription of R100, you are helping the NSRI to save lives on South African waters. Please post your form to NSRI Head Office, PO Box 154, Green Point 8051; your nearest regional office; or fax it to (021) 434-1661. We are also offering you the opportunity to buy a gift subscription for a friend or family member, increasing your chance of winning.

I would like to subscribe to Sea Rescue magazine i would like to buy a gift subscription for the person below

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06 Sea Rescue > winter 2010

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for sale

Small vessel seamanship guide Sponsored by Sanlam, this guide covers the syllabus for the SAMSA Small Vessel Certificate of Competence. Suitable for the National Local Waters and Coastal Skippers’ exam.

R70 each incl. VAT A relieved Brian Dugget and Deborah Robinson from PE

(plus R10.50 for postage).

waterwise warriors

ASSISTING A GROUNDED VESSEL

Perfect for school groups,

A brief but sincere word of thanks to all the members of Station 11 (Port Alfred) who assisted Mr Brian Duggett and his crew after their yacht grounded near to Cannon Rocks in the Eastern Cape. Once notified, I established contact with Juan Pretorius who sent out a team to assist. Mr Duggett has nothing but admiration for the professional manner in which the crew conducted their duties.

On behalf of the Algoa Bay Yacht Club, many thanks for your efforts.

It is always refreshing to know that the NSRI crews are ready in case of an emergency.

Phil Rademan, Safety Officer, Algoa Bay Yacht Club

this DVD gives loads of tips on water safety with an invitation to book a CPR demonstration.

There is no copyright, so it can be shared. R20 each (incl. postage and packaging). Call Theresa Medicine on (021) 434-4011 or Linda Els on 083 743 7203.

A PERFECT STORM On behalf of our whole family, we would like to thank the NSRI for taking us out to sea to scatter my dad Geoff Myburgh’s ashes. It was a wonderful experience, and with the wild sea and howling southeaster, we are sure he would have been smiling.

Please convey our very sincere thanks to the crew at Station 10 (Simon’s Town). They were just awesome.

Felicity Johl (See ‘News and Events’, page 21)

Thanks to Melkbos Thank you for having us as your guests and providing a most entertaining and informative morning for all of us to enjoy. The programme that you arranged was greatly appreciated, and we left feeling privileged that we knew more about your very smart, slick and highly impressive organisation.

The warmth that you so freely extended with the welcoming refreshments, the talk by Benny Olivier and Rhine Barnes, the video and the tour, together with the practice rescue, all complimented the glorious morning that we spent with you.

As a club, we will arrange a collection for you and your team at the station. We understand that the funds collected will be used in aid of a needy aspect of the service that you render to all who venture out to sea.

With kind regards and great admiration, Mike Yoell, Durbanville Probus Club

SEA RESCUE – IT’S WHAT WE DO DVD From dramatic footage of crew launching, interviews with rescuers and their families to a re-enactment of a real rescue, this DVD tells a rather humble and personal story of dedication and heroism. It’s full of action too. R20 each (incl. postage and packaging).

RADIO DISTRESS PROCEDURE INSTRUCTIONS The ICASA Marine Radio Regulations require that all vessels fitted with VHF and/or HF (SSB) transceivers must have a Distress Procedures Instruction Card on board. These are available from NSRI Durban. Cheques can be posted to NSRI Durban, PO Box 38446, Point 4069. The A5 VHF cards are R30 each (incl. postage) and the A4 SSB and VHF cards are R35 each (incl. postage).

Sea Rescue > winter 2010

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support at the CADIZ FREEDOM SWIM On behalf of myself and Dr Basil Bonner and the Medi-Clinic team, we would just like to extend a big thank you to you and the NSRI crew who assisted with the Cadiz Freedom Swim.

Without your support, the organisers would never have managed the event, and it wouldn’t have been the success that it was at the end of the day.

Geoff Bettison, Manager Corporate Events, Medi-Clinic

LIFE BOAT CIRCLE GOES TO EAST LONDON Thank you for the enjoyable morning we spent at Station 7 (East London). The highlight was the ride on the rescue craft, but the entire morning was very interesting and enjoyable.

We were all expecting tea and cake, and out came a full-on cold lunch. Thank you again.

Brian and Colleen Smith (See ‘Life boat Circle’, page 24)

TRAINING THE TRAINERS I would like to sincerely thank Robert Fine of Station 8 (Hout Bay) and the whole ASR team, as well as the SAAF for the opportunity to take part in the joint exercise you had recently. It was a most valuable experience, and I would like to incorporate what I have learnt and adapt our current simulator to make the HUET Training for the ASR team more realistic.

Please be assured of the Survival Centre’s commitment to your training needs and that you will always have our fullest cooperation at all times.

If at any stage you have another training opportunity where I could arrange for my instructors to witness an exercise, I would really appreciate it, as I am sure they would value the first-hand experience.

Thanking you sincerely once again.

Wilna Kapp, CPUT: Survival Centre

08 Sea Rescue > winter 2010

I was one of the swimmers in the Cadiz Freedom Swim and had to be pulled out of the water due to hypothermia. At first, boarding the NSRI main vessel was a bit of a blur due to the cold, but I quickly became aware of an incredibly kind, compassionate and competent crew.

I was amazed at how dedicated they were and how well they worked together. Although my race ended before the finish line, I was glad to have had the opportunity to meet such a team. They deserve a medal.

Stephen Cross

Write to us and WIN! The writer of the winning letter published in the Summer 2010 issue of Sea Rescue will receive a case of Slaley Wines worth R1 000.

This classic range is the flagship of Slaley Wines and consists of two bottles each of Slaley Chardonnay, Slaley Merlot, Slaley Merlot Blend, Slaley Pinotage and Reserve NLH. For more information on the range, call (021) 865-2123 or visit www.slaley.co.za, or find us at Slaley on the corner of the R44 and Kromme Rhee Road outside Stellenbosch.

Send your letters to Sea Rescue magazine, PO Box 15054, Vlaeberg 8018.

Illustration: darryl edwardes

READERS’ LETTERS

HELP DURING THE EASTER SURF SKI CHALLENGE I’d like to thank Seth from Station 14 (Plettenberg Bay) for helping me when my leash snapped during the Surf Ski Challenge. He definitely saved my life. I don’t think he was on duty; he was just surfing with us out there. I am going to visit the NSRI to make a donation.

Many thanks for the good work you guys do!

Jeremy Farber

08 - 10 OCT. 2010 CTICC

a trip of a lifetime Anticipation and excitement did not prepare me for the most amazing experience of my life.

Before I left, I imagined so many things about the Grand Prix and Barcelona, all of which were rewarded, plus more! Just being at the Grand Prix circuit was exhilarating, not to mention when the cars came around the track at qualifying.

I had tears in my eyes and goosebumps all over.

I could not believe I was there, so the first few laps resulted in my reflexes being very slow; I couldn’t even take a picture. Of course, the cars go so fast, it’s a real skill capturing a photo! The race itself went over my happy-barometer limit – there were 98 113 spectators and being part of the atmosphere was beyond words.

The second-last lap was the highlight. Lewis Hamilton had to retire due to a puncture which meant that the Spanish driver and favourite, Fernando Alonso, could take second place.

I thought the grandstand was going to collapse with all the foot stomping and cheering from the crowd. I was overjoyed as I also support Alonso and am a diehard Ferrari fan. I also went for a ride around the track in a simulator – very scary yet realistic, I would imagine. I have a new respect for every driver.

I cannot thank NSRI enough for the grand prize and Ogilvy for the huge gift. I am now saving to go to Monza in September 2010! A real F1 groupie! This was my first but definitely not my last Grand Prix.

Iris Vinnicombe, Ogilvy Cape Town television producer (Ogilvy won the second prize in our Pajero Competition. The competition is strictly audited

by Moores Rowland so anyone – including suppliers and volunteers – may enter. Ogilvy kindly gave the prize to their F1 fan, who was also responsible for the awarding-winning NSRI TV advert featuring JP Andrew. Ed)

thanks to station 12 for the hospitality We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Station 12 (Knysna) on Sunday, 14 March 2010. Thank you for your warm welcome, and a special thank you to Mike Jacobs for his excellent talk. He was also able to answer all of the many questions we asked. Please also thank the other members of your team who showed us your seaworthy boats and well-maintained equipment.

Others helped us at the steps, with the braai fires and made us feel at home. Knysna is fortunate to have volunteers who are enthusiastic, dedicated and highly skilled.

Duncan de Waal, Chairman, Outeniqua Naturalists Club

Compliment for our clothing store in the V&A Waterfront I have found your service to be first rate and will not hesitate recommending the shop in Cape Town as a ‘must-visit’ destination for souvenir hunters. Cape Town will always remain on our list for the future.

Andy, UK, Past-chairman

HELPING OUT AT THE MAC 24-HOUR CHALLENGE On Saturday, 27 March 2010, Milnerton Aquatic Club (MAC) hosted the 13th annual sailing challenge of the year on Rietvlei. Bongani Mnisi, Nature Conservation Area Manager, sounded the hooter and the race commenced in a northwesterly wind of 15-20 knots. This resulted in a number of dinghies capsizing, which meant that Station 18 (Melkbosstrand) and MAC Rescue were kept very busy.

The gusts of rain throughout Saturday afternoon and evening did nothing to dampen the spirits. From midnight on Saturday until 10h00 on Sunday the wind dropped and the boats were taking anything from half an hour to 45 minutes to complete a lap of 1 035m.

When the hooter sounded at midday on Sunday, the sailors, despite being tired, continued sailing for another hour. The Nestle Bar One for a 25-hour Day Trophy was won by Webasto from Voëlvlei Yacht Club.

Thanks to the NSRI team (who came in 32nd position) for staying for the duration of the challenge.

Pat Downing

South Africa’s premier showcase for all its yachting & water sports products. www.capetownboatshow.com Contact Dana: dana@impactexpo.co.za OR Johnny: jm@impactexpo.co.za

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Sea Rescue > winter 2010

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READERS’ LETTERS

Rudi Rogers and Elizca Hubbard strap Mark Kubisch onto the trauma board

Remembering our past chairmen Hennie Taljaard, Dave Abromovitz, the late Albie Matthews, the late Captain Arthur Blewitt, the late Geoff Myburgh and the late Pat O’Sullivan

HERMANUS VISIT We had a fantastic visit to Station 17 (Hermanus). What a lovely group of people! Listening to the explanation of the control room reminded me of my safety and security training, to keep a calm voice and a cool head and be reassuring all the time. Thanks, we look forward to seeing you again.

Lizzy

IT ALL ADDS UP I am the immediate past commodore of the Durban Ski Boat Club, and thought you might find the following of interest. I am also the convenor of our annual Durban Ski Boat Club Festival, and am supported by an amazing team of club members who volunteer their services. To give you some idea of its size, there is sponsorship and prizes that value R1 500 000.

For the last 20 years we have held a fishing festival at our club facilities. The festival, which took place on 25 and 26 April this year, focuses primarily on catching the ‘elusive’ barracuda.

In an attempt to pass on some financial benefit to Station 5 (Durban), with whom we have strong ties, we pass on R10 per angler to the station. Last year we raised R15 700 as there were 1 570 anglers. The club chipped in to round the amount off at R20 000.

This year we asked the anglers to consider a voluntary contribution in addition to the R10 per head. You will be interested to know that [at the time of writing] already more than R22 000 of donation money has been received by us. To this we will add the R10 per head. Hopefully we will finish up around the R40 000 mark.

I make two points: If everybody does a little it adds up to a lot, and all clubs, no matter how big or small their competitions, should give some thought to passing some of the entry fee over to the nearest NSRI station.

If we all get stuck in, we will be delighted at what we can generate towards the vital and caring organisation the NSRI is.

Keep up the good work.

Hilton Kidger

10 Sea Rescue > winter 2010

LANDING IN THE ARMS OF ANGELS I would like to let you know that on the day of my husband Mark’s accident at Yzerfontein, the NSRI was absolutely fantastic! Rudi, Elizca and Nicolene were on hand and took control of the situation. They also drove me to the hospital as I was in no state to drive. I would like to extend my thanks to the team.

Alicia Kubisch I am writing to congratulate the NSRI for the unbelievable way they treated Mark Kubisch, who had quite a serious accident on the beach at Yzerfontein recently when he was paragliding. He was in a bad way, but within five minutes an NSRI crewman was on the scene, within 15 minutes there was a paramedic, and then more NSRI guys with trauma boards as well as neck braces. They stabilised Mark and then proceeded to put him on the trauma board and carried him to the car park. They had already organised an ambulance to take him to Blaauwberg. The way the whole situation was handled was incredible, and I really must commend the NSRI. Huge thumbs up to those guys and girls who helped us. Thank you.

Icarus

THE PERSONAL TOUCH When Mrs Bailey of Rietkuil sent us a donation recently, she commented that a lot of her mail to the Cape seems to go astray.

I gave her a ring to confirm that we had indeed received her letter and generous cheque. The day I called just happened to be her birthday. We enjoyed a lovely chat about the tea that her Bible study group had arranged for her and we also spoke about how nice it is to get unexpected phone calls on a special day. Mrs Bailey, we hope you had a very happy birthday and thank you for your kindness to our volunteers.

In a similar vein, Malcolm from our call centre called Mrs Kloppers of Goedehoop to see if she wanted to take an extra ticket in our monthly draw. Mrs Kloppers has been faithfully supporting us since 2004! The day he called, she was scheduled for surgery and had recently had a fire in her home but, despite all this, she happily took an additional ticket.

Personal encounters like these give us a warm sense of community, which is a wonderful boost for our volunteers’ morale.

Meriel Bartlett, NSRI Marketing Director

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REAL-LIFE RESCUE

saving the day georgwin oerson’s life changed on 7 march 2010 after he was caught in a rip current and dragged out to sea.

ANdrew ingram chatted to him and kyle zaayman, the sea rescue trainee who saved his life

PHOTOGRAPH: MATTHEW JORDAAN, CAPE ARGUS

A big fit young man, his life revolves around the sea. When the waves are up, he’s surfing off the kelp bank. And over weekends, if he’s not surfing, he’s helping launch boats or learning all he can about Sea Rescue.

That particular Sunday, he had joined a large party of volunteers searching for a man who had been chased into the sea at Lagoon Beach, Milnerton, and then subsequently disappeared.

ANOTHER WAVE CAME, AND THAT WAS THE ONE THAT ALMOST KILLED ME The man had viciously attacked his girlfriend, repeatedly stabbing her, until nearby construction workers, brandishing picks and spades, chased him into the water.

‘He disappeared under a big wave and we didn’t see him again,’ said a security guard who witnessed the drama.

A Sea Rescue search party formed a chain, holding hands, and stretched as far out into the sea as they could stand, slowly moving along trying to find the body of the missing man.

Eventually the cold water and the slim chance of finding the casualty lead to the search being called off. Kyle and the others returned to their base, washed the equipment down and prepared the boats in case of another call-out.

By late afternoon Kyle was off duty and decided to go for a surf.

He wanted to take his mind off the man he had been searching for that morning. The conditions were perfect, the waves were huge and there were plenty of boogie boarders out.

Meanwhile, on the beach, Georgwin decided it was time to go for a dip with some of his friends.

He takes up the story: ‘The sea looked so nice. I was in the water for one minute, when all of a sudden I saw this wave race up. It was big.

Main photograph: Sea Rescue trainee Kyle Zaayman doing what he loves best Above: Volunteers form a chain in their search for a missing man at Lagoon Beach, Milnerton

12 Sea Rescue > winter 2010

PHOTOGRAPHS: ANDREW INGRAM

I

t was Sunday 7 March 2010, two days before the first birthday of Georgwin Oerson’s son. As is usual for the Oerson family on a Sunday, Georgwin, 34, packed them all into his old blue, 7-series BMW and took them to the church not far from their modest Atlantis home.

As an intensely religious man, it’s a part of the week that he loves most – the singing of hymns and the fellowship of the church family.

After the three-hour service the family headed home, having made plans with the pastor and some of the church elders to meet at Melkbosstrand for an afternoon swim. For the past two weeks they had followed the same routine, enjoying each other’s company, splashing around in the shallows, while the children were free to run about.

So it was with great irritation that Georgwin discovered he had car problems, which forced him to spend the early part of the afternoon trying to get the big car going for the 20-minute drive to Melkbos.

Arriving well after the others in the late afternoon, he was glad to see that the group was having fun. It was not long before his wife, Mauveen, and little Jushiah were settled on the beach with the other church members, and their two older children, Chameke, 7, and Chanay, 5, were running around.

Sea Rescue trainee Kyle Zaayman,19, was new to this seaside community. After completing his matric at Abbots College in Pretoria, he moved to the coast with his parents in December 2009 and immediately flung himself into community life.

Sea Rescue > winter 2010

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‘I looked at it and froze. I called to the other guys, “Look behind you.” I thought, I must get myself under the wave. So I dived under it, and when I got to the other side, I tried to paddle back to the beach. I saw my pastor’s daughter, Sade, and noticed the fear in her face. She shouted at her dad, “Daddy, I can’t feel the sand anymore. Come help me.”

‘All of a sudden everyone was scared. We were trying to get out and another big wave came from behind. When it reached us, it was as though it grabbed us and pulled us in. At that moment, I was very scared and my right leg was cramping. I realised I couldn’t swim out. So I called to one of my brothers, Lorenzo, to come and help me.

‘As we were trying to get out, another wave came, and he said he couldn’t help me any more.

I was very deep in the water. I could see the other brothers helping the ladies to get out. And then I was in the sea alone. I was screaming to them.

‘But I knew they couldn’t come because the waves were too strong for us. As I screamed, the waves just broke on me and they took me in deeper. And then a calmness came over me. I felt that I was losing my strength, and I was just thinking about my wife and my children.

‘And then I looked to my right and it was like I saw one of the guys from the Bible; his name is Petrus. And I looked back at my family and thought that there was still hope for me.

‘I screamed again but this time I was not afraid. I wanted them to know that I was still alive.

Then I looked to my right again and saw this guy with a surfboard.’

Kyle had heard the shouts above the sound of the surf and realised that Georgwin was in big trouble.

‘He was about 40m from me, way too far out, thrashing around. I kept my eye on him and paddled as fast as I could. He went down twice as I was paddling. I thought, “Ag no, not again.”

‘Luckily he came up just before I got to him and I pulled him onto my board and helped him to balance. He said to me that he was about to give up, that he could not swim any more,’ recounts Kyle.

Georgwin continues. ‘Kyle was speaking very nicely. Very calmly. And he said, don’t be afraid, just hang on. And he told me that there was a big wave on its way towards us. “Just stay calm and please don’t disappoint me,” he said.

‘I will never forget his words. He said, “Hold onto this thing for your life.” And all of a sudden the wave came.

‘Yoh! That wave. It turned that surfboard and threw it like a piece of paper. Then I was under the water.

real-life rescue

PHOTOGRAPH: shutterstock.com

‘He screamed to me, “Please don’t let go, just hold it.” And then another wave came. And that was the wave that almost killed me. It knocked me off the surfboard. I didn’t have the strength to carry on anymore. I was feeling so weak.

‘That guy kept pleading, “Please don’t give up. Don’t give up. Just hang in there. Just hang in. We’re almost there.”

‘Another wave came. Then all of a sudden I saw this guy is walking next to me. And then another guy came with a bigger surfboard and they helped me out.’

Kyle had used all his energy and strength to keep Georgwin on the board, and to swim against the super-strong rip. He was exhausted but knew that Georgwin needed medical attention.

By flagging down a bakkie, Kyle got Georgwin to the rescue base and, as he was running for help, saw Kobus Meyer, a coxswain at the base drive past. From there things happened fast. Georgwin was given oxygen, and then Kyle went to look for Mauveen to tell her that her husband was safe.

‘For me it was quite a difficult thing seeing them,’ said Kyle. ‘She and her little child were just crying, and she kept saying thank you.’

Talking to the Oerson family a few weeks later, Georgwin says that the incident changed his outlook on life: ‘That day was like a revelation.

We are just happy that we are together now. Since that time, we are spending lots of time together.

‘I thought that there was no hope for me until I saw that guy coming towards me,’ he says with a relieved smile.

What to do RIP CURRENTS • Don’t panic. Allow the current to take you out to sea. (Don’t try to swim against the rip current; it will only exhaust you.)

• Raise your arms and wave (in a scissor motion) while shouting for help.

• Tread water to stay afloat by moving your arms and legs in circular movements. (The air in your lungs will aid your buoyancy.)

• Take deep breaths between breaking waves and try to remain as calm as you can.

• At the first opportunity, swim parallel to the beach or coastline until you are free of the rip currents.

• Once free of these currents, swim back to shore using the incoming waves to aid your progress.

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news and events Pretoria Sailing Club Annual Awards

PHOTOGRAPH: dave nisbet

On Saturday 22 May 2010, the Pretoria Sailing Club held their annual awards dinner at the Rietvallei Dam in Irene near Pretoria. The Annual Charity Regatta held in January 2010 was in aid of the NSRI. A special word of thanks goes to club commodore Doreen Hughes, secretary Anne English and their fantastic team for the lovely warm welcome extended to André Kachelhoffer, station commander at Station 25 (Hartbeespoort Dam).

Thanks to:

A royal welcome The Queen Mary 2 called in at Durban on 23 March during her round-the-world cruise. Taking full advantage of their prime position at the harbour entrance, the KwaZulu-Natal regional office and Station 5 (Durban) arranged two functions, one to welcome her into port in the early morning and one to bid her farewell later the same day at 18h00. We sold 40 tickets for each function.

for 25-hour days If anyone has contacts at Nestlé, please ask them if they’d like to donate a few boxes of Bar-One chocolates for our long trips to sea.

Daniel Heimann of Station 6 (Port Elizabeth) did the maths and worked out the following: NSRI has been saving lives for 43 years. This translates into 15 695 active days (give or take a leap year), which in turn totals 376 680 hours. With 14 658 rescue operations on file, this means that we have performed a rescue every 25.7 hours since we began.

keeping our crews fit and healthy Our crews need regular medical examinations and Netcare hospitals countrywide have offered this as a free service to those who don’t have medical aid. To date they have arranged 450 free medicals throughout the country. Special thanks to Mande Toubkin, who heads this project.

• Hoffman Power for donating generators • Reef for donating rash vests • Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) for their grant of R2.2 million • Avis for its 30-day free car hire • Walter and Vanessa van Aarde who so graciously assisted our out-of-the-way stations with their needs list.

An unsung heroine In our Summer 2009 Sea Rescue, we mentioned the money we raise from shipping levies. Looking back in our archives, we discovered that at Station 19 (Richards Bay) Annette Poole has run our shipping-levy project since it began in 1996, Annette Poole and Brynn Gericke of clocking up an incredible Station 19 (Richards Bay) R1.2m since inception.

She does this work as a volunteer, sending out invoices to all the shipping companies whose ships enter Richards Bay as their first port of call. Monies are electronically deposited into NSRI’s account to ensure good corporate governance. Annette’s employer, LBH South Africa, kindly allows her to do this work using their paper, email and telephone.

Thank you, Annette and LBH. You are as vital to our organisation as the crew who launch our boats. Thank you for your selfless and loyal service.

NSRI’S HEAD OFFICE is funded through our faithful Platinum Sponsors. all OTHER donations can therefore BE SET ASIDE FOR rescue work.

platinum PARTNERSHIPS

GOLD PARTNERSHIPS • De Beers Marine • Premier Fishing SA (Pty) Ltd • viking fishing ltd • Lusitania Marketing Services • macs maritime shipping • Marine Products • Oceana Group • Svitzer-Wijsmuller • sa five engineering • amoil (pty) ltd • panargo shipping • sappi

16 Sea Rescue > winter 2010

Gemini Inflatables perform the programmed refits and repairs to the NSRI’s fleet of rigid inflatable rescue boats. This ensures that standards remain consistent, which is vital to the operational safety of our most valuable asset, our volunteer crew.

In April, Station 6’s (PE) 7.3m Eikos Rescuer III sustained serious damage during an operation in severe weather. She brought her crew home safely, her job well done. However, a survey of damage dictated a dry-dock refit. Phil Ress, the coordinator of RIB craft in the NSRI fleet, had to get her back to Gemini in Cape Town for urgent repairs.

MACS Shipping Lines, who have moved our craft before, were on hand, but their vessel schedule was not in sync with the urgent need.

Safmarine then offered to assist, but there was no container-rack equipment available in PE to load the container on at that time.

Norman Thomson of Dole Fruit Exporters heard about the dilemma via Andy Connell from the ASR (Air Sea Rescue) Unit. He discussed it with his fruit terminal, Fresh Produce Terminals (FPT), and his transport contractor, Milltrans PE. Milltrans subsidised the cost of transport and

Island View Shipping Golf Day The Island View Shipping Golf Day, organised by Rodney Cheek and Veronique Lamont (Voigt Shipping) on behalf of Captain Tim McClure, John Platlanski and Mark Koen (Island View Shipping), raised R80 000 for Station 19 (Richards Bay). Thanks also to the shipping personnel, who brought in about R5 000 from the raffle.

Gauteng Golf Day Tuesday, 25 May 2010, turned out to be a glorious winter’s day – 102 players, supporters and sponsors arrived at Randpark Club to participate in our Gauteng Golf Day. Before play, golfers enjoyed a steaming hot cup of filter coffee and muffins, generously sponsored by Mugg & Bean, Cresta. Master of ceremonies Peter Alexander, an NSRI Life Member, captivated everyone’s attention with his sense of humour and compassion. And each golfer went away with a golf shirt and cap, kindly sponsored by JCB T-Shirt Wholesalers. A big thank you to Randpark Club for hosting NSRI for the fourth year running.

Durban Ski Boat Club Festival A three-day ski boat fishing festival, including a fishing competition, took place in April and more than 300 ski boats took part. Hilton Kidger, the festival chairman was able to make a donation of R30 000 towards the Sea Rescue services from proceeds. A big thank you to Durban Ski Boat Club for their recognition of the NSRI through the years.

CAPE TOWN INTERNATIONAL BOAT SHOW TURNS 10

The 10th Cape Town International Boat Show is ready to dazzle visitors with a wonderful array of sailing and power craft, from start-up vessels for newbies to top-end luxury craft. Exhibitors will showcase the latest safety and electronic equipment, and everything the serious and not-so-serious boating enthusiast would want to see. Sign up for sailing courses, book an overseas sailing holiday, compare insurance prices, buy a water toy or upgrade your boat or motor. It’s all there.

As always, the CTICC will house the main show, with the Cape Grace Marina at the V&A Waterfront hosting the big luxury craft.

There will be boats worth more than R180 million on display on the water at the marina, and it’s a fantastic opportunity for people to go on board and experience what these boats have to offer.

To move between the two venues, visitors can use the everpopular canal water ferry or shuttle buses, for free.

The Cape Town International Boat Show is a dazzling celebration of the best that the South African boating industry has to offer.

Diarise 8-10 October 2010 at the CTICC and the V&A Waterfront, and visit www.capetownboatshow.com for more information.

Sea Rescue > winter 2010

PHOTOGRAPH: RRAD Photography

PAYING IT FORWARD

Dole Fruit Exporters paid the balance. FPT lifted the three tonnes of boat and trailer onto the low-loader at no cost. The next day, she was offloaded at Gemini’s Epping plant. The R20 000 operation was done at zero cost to the NSRI. In early May, the 5.5m Spirit of Rotary, based in East London, reached her required refit time. Phil Ress again asked for help in transporting the craft to Gemini, and once again NSRI drew on its own member resources via Andy Connell.

Ocean Africa Container Lines (OACL) is the only container service running coastwise ships into East London. Safmarine uses their services to feed shipments into and out of East London to other ports on the Eastern seaboard.

After Andy explained the requirements, Safmarine responded and the synergies dovetailed neatly, with OACL offering to zero rate their component of the lift and Safmarine zero rating the PE to Cape Town leg. Station 7 (East London) crew loaded and lashed the 5.5m Spirit of Rotary into the sea container. In Cape Town, Andy recovered the boat and trailer, and towed it to the Gemini plant in Epping.

This operation, worth some R30 000 commercially, was once again absorbed by the parties involved with minimal cost to the NSRI. NSRI and indeed the greater seafaring community has a debt of gratitude to those companies and people who, in times of need, help keep our operating costs as low as possible without compromising on high standards. Our crews, as always, get involved in making the logistics flow smoothly, despite any inconvenience to themselves.

Organising logistical operations like these requires many phone calls, emails, precise coordination and the help of individuals who will often remain faceless to the NSRI, either a voice on the phone or a name on an email. The sense of fellowship that results is reward enough.

It’s great when a plan comes together!

17

News & events Joint Exercise with Acher Aviation From left: Station 19 (Richards Bay) crewman Ryan Chase is lowered by hoist operator Thembi Xawuka, with the Transnet National Ports Authority helicopter under the command of Chris Esterhuyse.

NSRI crew members Chrissie van der Merwe and Jaco van der Walt demonstrate the lift procedure under Thembi Xawuka’s supervision

thanks to the tRANSNET NATIONAL PORTS AUTHORITY (TNPA) Station 19 (Richards Bay) would like to extend a big thank you to TNPA for the use of their helicopter during a recent exercise, and to the staff of Acher Aviation for their time and professionalism in training our crew.

Walking the plank During the Cansa walk in Richards Bay on 29 April, the Zululand Yacht Club (ZLYC) nominated NSRI as its hero and requested a flag from the station. The Richards Bay crew, always up for a bit of fun, then volunteered to join the ZLYC staff during their shift. They dressed up in full rescue gear and supported them for that hour (from 01h00). Some rescuers even walked the distance tied to a plank. It was very well received and the ZLYC was declared the winner of the hour.

The night exercise took place on Transnet’s Swift Turn

QUICK RESPONSE TO SWIFT TURN Station 19 (Richards Bay) staged a night exercise with their local hospital and Transnet. The scenario: while working on the air conditioner on the tug Swift Turn, a crewman falls about 3m over the side and lands on a bollard fracturing his rib, pelvis, leg and clavicle. A fellow crewman rushes to assist, slides down the stairs, breaks his femur and injures his shoulder.

The station was called and the crew (still unaware that it was an exercise) responded to the scene in The Spirit of Richards Bay and Spirit of Round Table. The rescue base contacted Netcare 911, who dispatched an ambulance to the base. The crew stabilised the ‘casualties’, evacuated them and took them to the base, where Netcare 911 evaluated the patients and prepped them for delivery to The Bay Hospital.

Thank you to Transnet for the use of their tug Swift Turn, as well as to the staff of The Bay Hospital and Netcare 911.

Our NSRI AGM 18 Sea Rescue > winter 2010

Free shots Delia Schulze, trauma nurse at The Bay Hospital in Richards Bay and also a rescue volunteer, kindly organised free tetanus shots for the crew. She seemed to have a lot of fun administering them herself!

Atlantic Imbizo, Clock Tower Precinct, V&A Waterfront, Thursday, 26 August 2010, 17h30 for 18h00. All are welcome.

PHOTOGRAPH: STEVE GORDON

dawson’s Skipper Training

Wedding Bells are ringing Ditching in the name of THE NSRI Rescue demonstrations often need a drawcard, so the crew of Station 2 (Bakoven) hatched a plan to ‘drop’ one of their volunteers into the water off Clifton shortly before the start of the 2010 Clifton Challenge.

‘Ordinarily we’d organise a capsized vessel with crew simulating distress for a rescue demonstration,’ explains coxswain Bruce Davidson, ‘but crew member Ant Allen volunteered to ditch his paraglider, which was a great idea. The spectacle would heighten awareness of the role NSRI plays on our coastline.’

Anthony headed out over Clifton spectacularly trailing a plume of orange smoke and executing some gravity-boosted manoeuvres once out over the water.

He particularly enjoyed being able to hear the presenter on the beach PA from several hundred feet up drumming up support for the NSRI while he was heading for his splash down.

Station 23 (Wilderness) crew were happy to see Bianca Bezuidenhout and Eugene Rautenbach tie the knot on 27 June 2010 in Wilderness. Bianca and Eugene joined the station in February this year, after spending the previous two years volunteering for Station 19 (Richards Bay).

We offer the following power-driven Small Vessel Certificate of Competence Skipper Courses: Category B Coastal Skipper – 40nm - <9m

DIS Lekker by die see thanks to Nu Tec Pietermaritzburg-based company Nu Tec (provider of vitamin and mineral premix products for livestock feeds) made a sizeable donation to the NSRI recently.

Nu Tec production executive Nikki Moodley hands over their donation to Dave Sievwright, with Station 5 (Durban) coxswain Alec McNamara (left) and Nu Tec HR manager Di-Ann Pillay (right)

When BOE very kindly sponsored a trip to the sea for the children of Twee Jongegezellen Farm School in Tulbagh, their WaterWise educator Eoudia Erasmus accompanied them. Although it’s outside normal NSRI duties, the crew from Station 18 (Melkbos) also took a day’s leave so that they could help manage the group, and Linda Els from WaterWise arranged educational games. Clive Goss from the local Wimpy generously supplied a Wimpy meal, Coke, activity book and a balloon for each child, and he personally served the children, stopping to have a chat to the excited youngsters as he went.

‘Dit was vir die plaaskinders ’n onvergeetlike ervaring. Dit was werklik sommige kinders se eerste keer by die see! Vir die wat al reeds by die see was, was dit nou weer die tweede of derde keer. Ek weet dat dit vir die kinders ’n dag was wat hulle altyd sal koester en altyd sal onthou!’ sê Eoudia Erasmus.

Category C Day Skipper (local waters) – 15nm - <9m Category D Day Skipper (local waters) – 5nm - <9m Category E Day Skipper (local waters) – 1nm - <9m Category R Day Skipper (restricted) – Ports and fishing harbours, lagoons, rivers, dams, wetlands and lakes

082 488 0077 Paul 082 784 4155 Wendy 031 702 5495 Tel 086 532 7269 Fax paul@dawsonsst.co.za wendy@dawsonsst.co.za www.dawsonsst.co.za

News & events ‘We have had such nice support,’ says Adolf. ‘The NSRI family is a great place to be. We always felt so safe, knowing that the guys were on standby for us. So many of them were amazing.

‘The Witsand guys ... what a great lot. They helped with everything and guided us through the sand bar seven times.

When we arrived, the whole dorp came out.

‘The Gordon’s Bay folk were just as nice. They organised a braai and a fleet of boats to meet us. And when they became worried because they could not get us on the radio, they launched to look for us. Hermanus and Kommetjie were on standby, Hout Bay gave us coordinates... They all made us feel so safe.’

Joani and Adolf with daughters Carly and Rènel, and Ian Chamberlain (far right) Adolf’s impossible journey was a great success, raising not only enough for Carly’s operation on 7 June 2010, but also enough to pay for operations for another three children from the trust that he has formed. Making the impossible possible – that’s the impossible journey exactly what Adolf achieved with the help of his big Sea Rescue family.

As a boy living in Pretoria, Adolf Piater loved to visit his grandmother, and For more information, visit www.theimpossiblejourney.co.za. enjoyed paging through her pile of Panorama magazines. Adolf loved the big pictures and wonderful stories, and an article on Sea Rescue really captured his imagination.

Surf training in the Wilderness He decided that when he was ‘big’ he would join the NSRI. Station 23 (Wilderness) runs our Surf Launch School, giving surf training Over the years, he forgot about the magazine, until a holiday in 2005. and assessment for coxswains from all NSRI stations countrywide. In ‘We were in Mossel Bay and I saw the NSRI 5.5 RIB. I said to Joani the words of one of their coxswains: ‘This is not about knowing more that if we ever moved to the coast, I would like to join them,’ he says. than others; it’s about deepening the surf-rescue knowledge base and On 23 January 2006, Joani gave birth to twins Rènel and Carly. The sharing this across the NSRI, while building the camaraderie to keep girls were nine-and-a-half weeks premature, so they spent their first the discussions going. We are blessed with a good training ground, with three months in hospital. They pulled through, but a week after their large surf and strong rip currents.’ discharge, tests revealed that Carly had retinopathy of prematurity (ROP).

A big thank you to station commander Hennie Niehaus, his coxswains The doctors explained that Carly’s retinas had become detached and crew, who volunteer extra time above their normal commitment. from her eyes. She had light perception in her left eye, but could see no movement or objects, and she could see nothing with her right eye.

At the NSRI stand at Two years later, in 2008, Adolf and Joani made their dream come true. the Durban Boat Show, They moved to Mossel Bay and immediately joined Sea Rescue. In their ISBC secretary Aziz spare time, the two young parents carried on their research into ROP, Khan hands a cheque and at last, early in 2010, Adolf found a doctor in Johannesburg who to the NSRI’s Dave would operate on Carly’s eyes.

Sievwright. Station 5 ‘It would not give her sight but it would give her shapes and colours,’ (Durban) crewman Stan Adolf explains.

Hamilton and Irshaad The operation would cost R140 000, which was way more than they Vaizie (ISBC) look on. could afford, and to make matters worse, they were told that she had to have the procedure before the end of the year.

By now Adolf had spent many hours with the crew, chatting about Isipingo Ski Boat Club DONATES TO SEA RESCUE boats, listening to friends who had raced the Trans Agulhas from Mossel The Isipingo Ski Boat Club (ISBC) has recently been re-established.

Bay to The Strand, and he had developed a real feel for the sea.

They celebrated their restart with a donation to the NSRI (above).

So it was one morning, when he was standing in his garage staring at a little 3m inflatable boat, that the idea hit him. ‘Why not sail this little boat, Lean on me when you’re not strong with an electric engine, to Cape Town? That will get attention for ROP.’ Station 30 (Agulhas) has been struggling with a very small team of People told him it was impossible but, undaunted, Adolf started to volunteers, which means they never get time off. They are always on duty. plan and the huge Sea Rescue family rallied around him. Adolf found Their station commander, Shane Kempen, realised that, for the sake of a co-pilot in fellow Mossel Bay volunteer Ian Chamberlain, and many the families, the crew needed to have some time out but wasn’t sure how companies donated equipment and money. to make it happen. True to the nature of our volunteers, the neighbouring It grew into a massive undertaking that culminated in 21 days at sea stations from Strandfontein, Gordon’s Bay and Simon’s Town have started with nightly stops at coastal villages. A documentary was made on the sending up volunteers for weekend duties in Agulhas to give the local crew trip, and a trust fund was established for other children who are blind some leave. A very big thank you to those selfless rescue crews who have and whose parents cannot afford the operation. been willing to step in and help out.

20 Sea Rescue > winter 2010

boat on loan saves the day 13 people were rescued in 3-5m swells by Station 6 (Port Elizabeth) crew aboard the 5.5m Eikos Rescuer 1, which was on loan to them from Station 21 (St Francis Bay) while their boats have been out of order.

The Jack Riley Thursday, 25 March, saw the Station 9 (Gordon’s Bay) long-range sea rescue vessel Jack Riley moved from Gordon’s Bay harbour to a local factory for final fitting out.

The construction of the Jack Riley was made possible by the very generous donation of the late Jack Riley and his vivacious wife, Irene. The donation is the largest private donation ever made by an individual to Sea Rescue.

in memory of...

SEA RESCUE ON SHOW Thank you to Impact Exhibitions, the organisers of the Cape Town International Boat Show, for giving the NSRI a stand at the show since its inception nine years ago. This has meant valuable exposure for us.

Witsand Fishing Derby

If you claim to be a seasoned angler but have not yet visited Witsand over the Easter weekend, it’s safe to say you have unfulfilled angling aspirations. This sleepy little village transforms itself overnight into a thriving town filled to capacity with fishermen jostling for places to park their trailers, not to mention claiming prime fishing spots. This year, the Heidelberg Breede River Boat Angling Club hosted the Witsand Fishing Derby, which proved to be a huge success. On the morning of the competition, Station 33 (Witsand) lent their support by guiding boats through the treacherous Breede River mouth.

Then it was with great excitement that the NSRI was welcomed at the club by a large group of children (below). In no time at all, station commander Attie Gunter had a captive audience who seemed completely enthralled by all the equipment used in rescues. The Heidelberg Breede River Boat Angling Club later sold tickets for a lucky draw and all proceeds were donated to Sea Rescue.

Geoff Myburgh, founder member of the NSRI, past financial director, past chairman and honorary life governor, who passed away at the age of 81 on 2 March 2010.

Geoff loved the sea and water sports. He started his sailing career in 1947 from Kalk Bay on Spindrift, a gaff-rigged 25-footer designed by Norman Ross of the Royal Cape Yacht Club. He began dinghy sailing in 1951 at Zeekoevlei Yacht Club, crewing with renowned skippers Joyce, Bongers and Burnwood. He represented South Africa at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne and the FD World Championships in 1958. Geoff was a respected member of the sailing community and was recently presented with a Meritorious Award by South African Search and Rescue for his dedication, passion and contribution to maritime search-and-rescue services. He was also a highly respected international yacht race judge. Our sincere condolences go out to his wife, Helen, his children and grandchildren.

We also remember: • Willem Louw, Station 20 (Shelly Beach) crewman who died in a boating accident unrelated to NSRI, at Ramsgate in KwaZulu-Natal. Our thoughts go out to his wife and children.

• John Leslie Randall, who was awarded Honorary Life Commodoreship of Lake Deneys Yacht Club following 16 years as commodore. Dick and Kathy Manten of Station 22 (Vaal Dam) extend their heartfelt condolences.

• Pierre du Plessis, who passed away suddenly. We attended the ‘paddle out’ at Kommetjie to remember him. An unprecedented number of surfers paddled out in really large surf to lay a wreath in remembrance of his commitment to surfing, water safety and the general Kommetjie community. He will be sorely missed. We extend to Pierre’s wife, Angie, and her children our sincerest condolences.

News & events

Above: Stills from the short film LHR-JNB, which was directed by this year’s Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner, Michael MacGarry

The precariousness of human survival While on medical standby at the opening night of the 2010 Spier Contemporary Art Awards in March, NSRI’s Craig Lambinon came across an artwork that chillingly recreates a scenario in which four survivors of a Boeing 747 crash find themselves desperately adrift at sea.

The title of the video, LHR-JNB, alludes to a fictional 747 crashlanding into the Mediterranean Sea en route from London to Johannesburg.

It was written, produced and directed by this year’s Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner, Michael MacGarry, who says the fictional narrative was an attempt ‘to articulate the voluntary South African alienation and London-induced drowning of identity,’ he experienced when he lived in the UK in 2001 and 2002.

‘Something happens to the identity of South Africans when they are removed from their regular social context, especially in a place like London, so the life raft became a metaphor for that,’ he explains.

Part of the spark of inspiration for the film came from an NSRI training exercise Michael participated in when he was about 18. ‘My father owned a yacht and a friend of his was a volunteer for the NSRI. So for this training exercise we had to get into a life raft and one guy pretended to have broken his leg... That experience planted a seed.’

To achieve the chilling realism of the video, Michael watched a lot of films on YouTube about what happens at sea – survival instruction videos, life-raft training manuals, and so on.

‘We didn’t do any rehearsals with the cast [myself, Jan-Henri Booyens, Jaco van Schalkwyk and Marcel Waldeck], so it is as much a documentary of what happened to the four of us over those four days as it is a fictional idiosyncratic art film.’

Resonating with the same darkly compelling quality that one sees in other cult disaster films like Lost, Alive, Lord of the Flies and Mosquito Coast, Michael’s video art meditation on the precariousness of human survival was one of the most powerfully affecting works at this year’s Spier Contemporary Art exhibition.

NSRI has been given the opportunity to use the film as a fundraiser.

If you live near a Sea Rescue base, contact your station commander or Meriel Bartlett at merielb@searescue.org.za or 082 994 7555 to arrange a viewing for your club or society.

Alex Dodd

SKIPPER TRAINING

Obtain your National Certificate of Competence as a Power Driven Vessel Skipper for the categories B, C, E and R The South African Institute for Skippers is the largest training establishment for skippers in South Africa. We have been appointed as an Authorized Agency by the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) and we pride ourselves in our professionalism.

Courses offered: • Cat R (inland waters) • Cat E (1 nautical mile) • Cat C (15 nautical miles) • Cat B upgrade (40 nautical miles with night rating) • Conversion to over 9 metres We conduct annual boat surveys (COF) Suppliers of Safety Equipment Contact us on (021) 975-3281 / info@saskipper.com / www.saskipper.com

joining station 7 for the day Members of the Cambridge High School Outdoor Club spent the day with Station 7 (East London), helping to clean the rescue base and spending time with the crew.

Dirty Dog When Jason Myhill from Dirty Dog Eyewear did the Orange River trip this year, he dived in to save a fellow paddler who capsized.

It was so instinctive that he forgot to take off his glasses first. But surfacing, they were still on his face. His little rescue experience made him think about NSRI, and decided it was time to ‘do a bit of good’ and structure a deal for the amazing volunteers.

So, to benefit, here’s what you need to do. Visit the website on www.dirtydog-sunglasses.com. On the check-out page, just above where you enter your delivery details, there is a field where you can enter a discount coupon number. Once you have entered the coupon number, click ‘update’ for the price to reflect your discount as shown in the yellow block. For volunteers: 50% off, use the code nsrv1dd2cpt; for donors: 20% off, use the code: nsrd1dd3cpt.

(And, yes, we can see who is buying, so we’ll know if you cheat.)

Dirty Dog Wetglass features: • ‘water escape’ vents in the frame that allow water to flow away from your eyes and keep them as dry as possible • a specialised hydrophobic coating on the lens to repel water • a scratch-resistant hard coat for maximum durability • elasticised (and removable) headband • state-of-the-art polarised lens that blocks 100% of reflected horizontal glare.

THE OLD SHANGHAI FIRECRACKER FACTORY R70446

Perfection exceeded, the new Pajero Exceed. Drive it.

Whether long or short wheel-base is your style both are now available with higher output diesel engines to get you where youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going a lot sooner.

Add to that the new Mitsubishi Integrated Communication System (MiCS) as standard and you also have the tools to bring you back home. To get your adventure started in a new Pajero Exceed, visit your nearest dealer or visit www.mitsubishi-motors.co.za Vehicle specifications may vary.

life boat circle

teaS and tours

We felt it was high time to take a Life boat Circle tour TO OUR FRIENDS ALONG THE EAST COAST. THERE WE MET WITH MANY LONG-TIME SUPPORTERS AND A FEW NEW ONES AS WELL, SAYS MARGARET McCULLOCH

D

espite being tucked away under old railway and road bridges down the reaches of the Buffalo River, Station 7 (East London) had a wonderful turn-out of Life boat Circle supporters. There was much lively discussion among our guests as to what the rescue base had been previously; some said it was a nightclub in the old days.

While visiting Station 12 (Knysna), the crew were called out to assist an American tourist, who required a seaward evacuation after falling on the Featherbed trail.

We had gathered at the rescue base to honour two new bequestors from the area and present them with their gold Life boat Circle badges and certificates. One of our new bequestors, Yvonne van Zyl, was recovering from spinal surgery.

Well, that didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t deter her. (I do hope her neurosurgeon isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t reading this.) She moved smoothly and swiftly from vantage point to vantage point, advising us of the best place to view the rescue proceedings.

I have to admit, it was indeed an exciting and dramatic morning, until we knew that the American visitor had been handed safely into the professional care of the ambulance team.

24 Sea Rescue > winter 2010

From left: At Station 6 (PE), Claire Deacon, daughter of Captain Bob Deacon, with Shawn Phillips, crewman and American folk singer, Margaret McCulloch, NSRI Honorary Life Governor Brian Hustler, and Aubrey Adshade, who, while at General Motors, was responsible for the fitting of the motors to our rescue craft

life boat circle

Main photograph: Visitors aboard Station 7’s Spirit of Lotto Clockwise from top left: Philip Womersley and Yvonne Van Zyl, with Station 12 (Knysna) StatCom Graeme Harding; Station 6 (Port Elizabeth) crewman Daniel Heimann with his son, William; onboard Kowie Rescuer is Elisabeth Milln, indefatigable Station 11 (Port Alfred) supporter, and bequestor Major General Tom Cockbain, who was honoured by the presentation of his bequestor certificate and badge, alongside Helen Hall and Rundle Stocks; guests watch as the Station 21 (St Francis Bay) rescue craft is lowered into the water

Thank you for the following donations received SPECIAL OCCASIONS T Cunningham • Eric Stephen • May Brokenshire (80th birthday) • Janice and Peter Lohrmann (wedding) DONATIONS IN MEMORY OF LOVED ONES Mary Adendorff • Vic Denner • Hazel de Rooy • Captain Glendinning • Ross Gower • Colin King Hope • Gwynneth Horn • Barry Johnson • Nina Maclennan • G Muller • Geoffrey Vivian Myburgh • Jack Talbot • Mac Thomas • Don Walker • Mrs Kat • Mr and Mrs Alan Sharwood • Richard Kearns Townsend • Captain and Mrs Walter Eggert • Tommy Doman

Patrick Turner of Johannesburg received his Life boat Circle badge and certificate recently

Life boat Circle is a society for retired persons. For more information, contact Margaret McCulloch on 082 990 5976 or email margaretm@searescue.org.za

Sea Rescue > winter 2010

25

26 24Sea SeaRescue Rescue>>winter winter2010 2010

Waterwise

Planting fishing rods in rural

communities

BY PROVIDING RURAL COMMUNITIES WITH LOCALLY-BASED TRAINERS, WATERWISE’s LATEST INITIATIVE IS INDEED FOLLOWING THE OLD ADAGE THAT TEACHING A MAN TO FISH EMPOWERS HIM FOR LIFE

WORDS: LINDA ELS, PHOTOGRAPHS: gALLO IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES, rrad PHOTOGRAPHY

The community meeting had been arranged by Michael Dennison or ‘Chintsa Mike’ as he is affectionately known by the locals. In true African tradition, a general consensus time of ‘late afternoon’ had been set for this gathering. No-one was rushed, and gradually members of the Chintsa East township filtered into the pre-school classroom and perched on tiny chairs designed for toddlers.

WaterWise has selected three rural villages in three different provinces for a research project that aims to compile data together with the Medical Research Council, and to plant WaterWise trainers in the community. Chintsa in the Eastern Cape is one of the communities selected, and funding allowed for six members of the community to be trained as WaterWise educators. The syllabus includes a CPR course and each of the six candidates would be required to assist in completing research questionnaires, as well as present WaterWise workshops to classes of school children. A CPR dummy would be left with each community to be shared between the trainers, so that they can continue the training until follow-up visits.

More than six hands were raised when we asked who would be interested in participating, so Mike helped us to select the ideal candidates.

All six candidates arrived promptly for their first class that Friday afternoon. Rieghard Janse van Rensburg of Station 21 (St Francis), also a volunteer WaterWise educator, joined us to film the CPR training at his own expense. As he did the sound checks, a tractor started up outside

the open windows, drowning out all other noise. Although reluctant to interfere with the mowing process of the thigh-high grass around the school buildings, I realised we’d make no progress if I didn’t.

The mower was not at all perturbed, and offered to mow much further down the valley first and return to the school later in the day.

After a weekend of training and role playing, Monday was set aside for the school appointments. I watched one after another newly-trained WaterWise educator stand tall and present the material eloquently in their mother tongue.

Nokuphumla is a natural teacher; the children loved her interactive and action-packed presentations. Sizakele, Ronald and Siyabonga wrote matric at one of the local high schools last year, yet they teach with confidence and spontaneous humour. Milton’s inherent compassion ensured that the children felt supported and were encouraged to ask questions. Daniel is a vital member of the community; he is involved in a number of projects and is a well-respected local figure. Four out of these six volunteers are unemployed.

So banish your preconceived ideas about what motivates people. I spent a week with fellow South Africans who are dedicated to delivering a much-needed service to their people, with no promise of financial gain.

I have since been to other remote villages in KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo Province, and I assure you that, if you assist us with funding, we can change the statistics. Drowning is a major cause of accidental death in our country but bystander CPR can save lives. Your financial support will ensure that this Train-the-Trainer programme is sustainable, so please help us.

Opposite (clockwise from top left): WaterWise trainers (left to right) Ronald Qenge, Siyabonga Sinonwana, Daniel Pherane, Nokuphumla Pati, Sizakele Gijana and Milton Nkwenteni; demonstrating lifesaving CPR skills; Children playing in the Chintsa Lagoon; Linda Els and Sizakele

To learn more about WaterWise, visit www.waterwise.org.za or call us on (021) 434-4011.

FUNDRAISING

reaching new

heights IT TOOK JONATHAN HAMILTON-BROWN AND MARC BOSCH EIGHT MONTHS TO FULFIL THEIR DREAM AND RAISE FUNDS FOR SEA RESCUE BY CYCLING TO KILIMANJARO, SUMMITTING UHURU PEAK and then embarking on the long trek home. JONATHAN TELLS THEIR AMAZING STORY

Cycle tourers are a unique breed; they’re not cyclists, they’re travellers South Africa and her people were kind to us. We were welcomed into strangers’ homes, and by the time we reached Nelspruit one month after departure, we felt like seasoned cycle tourers. The reality of our adventure kicked in when we approached the border. We’d be crossing over into ‘real Africa’ and Mozambique was the first country we’d experience.

Here we quickly learnt that if you don’t ask, you won’t get. Even if you communicate using a form of sign language or a broken version of the language spoken, you can find what you need. Our lodgings varied on the road. We stayed in villages, camped at Telecom towers, slept in classrooms, orphanages, building sites, backpackers and guesthouses.

We were even spoilt with a week of free accommodation in the five-star Southern Sun Hotel in Dar es Salaam, courtesy of Vodacom Tanzania.

With the help and motivation of all the friends we made on the road and those back home, Marc and I reached the halfway point of our tour – the summit of Kilimanjaro – at 06h03 on the morning of 1 August.

We had the privilege of sitting on Uhuru Peak, the highest point in Africa, 5 895m above sea level, sipping Jack Daniels for warmth and watching the sun rise over the continent we love so dearly.

Photograph: RRAD/www.rrad.co.za

A

fter cycle-touring through the British Isles, I was exposed to a totally different kind of travelling, and I realised I would not be satisfied until I had seen my own continent from the saddle.

I would go solo if need be, but that changed with a simple remark from my friend Marc Bosch: ‘You can’t have all that fun alone.

When are we leaving?’

Living in St Francis Bay and working as a refrigeration technician on the chokka fleet, I’d regularly see the crew of Station 21 going out in horrific sea conditions. We thought it would be selfish not to ride for a charity, so we approached the NSRI. Planning the tour took hours of poring over maps and painstakingly researching weather conditions and potential hazards. Six months of research led to three main issues on the road: security, water and malaria.

Sponsorship and funding the tour was a real headache. Trying to persuade a corporate company to sponsor two 27-year-olds who wanted to cycle around East Africa for charity proved nearly impossible. We funded the tour ourselves to the tune of around R60 000, and received product sponsorships from Island Tribe, Divvy Sunglasses and Cape Storm. At least we’d leave St Francis Bay with sunblock, sunglasses and warm tops!

The build-up to departure was intense. Local businesses started supporting our cause and donating to the NSRI. We also secured a R1/km sponsorship for NSRI from Rand Merchant Bank, a big motivator for us.

On 15 March 2009 we were sent off by NSRI crew and supporters from the St Francis Bay base. The turnout from locals was amazing, and R3 000 was raised with a Pedal2Peak breakfast alone (one of many that were held during our absence). We cycled out of St Francis Bay with a peloton of riders to Humansdorp; from there we were on our own.

The stretch from Patensie over the Baviaanskloof Mountains into the Karoo was our benchmark for pain and hardship during the tour.

We were hopelessly overloaded in the beginning. We felt every extra kilogram during three back-breaking days in the Karoo, where we later met family and were able to halve our loads.

Jonathan and Marc’s tour took them from St Francis Bay through Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana to Moshi at the foot of the world’s highest freestanding mountain, Kilimanjaro in Northern Tanzania, which they summited to celebrate the halfway mark of their epic cycle journey.

The road home was tackled with renewed spirit after a good rest.

Our distances increased daily, but we were now racing the increasing heat on our southward journey home. We struggled as the midday temperatures soared into the mid-40s, forcing us to adapt to ‘beforedaybreak’ starts in Botswana, and to be at our destination before noon.

If there was one aspect I’d highlight from the tour, it would be the amazing and interesting people we met. Africa is diverse and filled with contrasting landscapes, but her true beauty lies in her people. They have hardly anything but will give everything they have to help.

On 14 November 2009, Marc and I pedalled into St Francis Bay to a welcoming party second to none. Eight months after leaving home and 10 600km in the saddle, we were reunited with friends and family, having raised over R100 000 for NSRI, achieving our goals and living a dream.

St Francis Bay is dependent on Sea Rescue. This is the only emergency service based within our community. The nearest fire, rescue or ambulance service is in Humansdorp, 15km away. Without fail, NSRI is always the first on the scene. (And that’s not mentioning the rescues out at sea.)

How you choose to travel depends on taste and comfort zones. Cycle tourers are a unique breed; they’re not cyclists, they’re travellers. They are never in a hurry. They have no deadlines or pressure to be anywhere but in the saddle. They can spend eight hours a day slowly accumulating the miles on their trusted metal horses while taking in the views that are often missed at 120km/h. Marc and I experienced that first-hand during our tour, living our dream for the benefit of Sea Rescue.

Sea Rescue > winter 2010

29

of the show STARFISH ARE AMONG THE most colourful OF MARINE CREATURES. THEY ARE ALSO VORACIOUS PREDATORS AND CAPABLE OF REGENERATION WHEN HArmed. NATURALIST GEORGINA JONES elaborates on these characteristics, as well as some other peculiar traits. PHOTOGRAPHS BY GEOFF SPIBY

F

or animals as well known as starfish, they’re pretty peculiar.

Instead of muscles, they use seawater for walking and for getting at their prey. Instead of blood for transporting nutrients around their bodies, they use seawater. Unlike almost all other animals, they lack a brain and, as far as we know, they relay sensory information through a decentralised nerve net. And then there’s the five-fold symmetry of their body plan.

According to some researchers, this five-fold symmetry makes sense for starfish because it strengthens their overall body structure.

Most animals have a distinct head and tail, as well as left and right sides to their bodies. Although they start out like this as larvae, starfish metamorphose as adults. Starfish don’t have heads and although some species have more than five arms, no single arm dominates. You’d think this would make choosing a direction trickier than it was for Dr Dolittle’s pushmi-pullyu. In fact, starfish arms are equipped with basic sensory organs that connect to a ring of nerves in the central section of the body. The strength of the chemical signals coming from each arm will determine which way the animal goes. This means that starfish can change direction frequently, depending on where the signals for food or threats are coming from.

How they get where they’re going is peculiar too. Starfish belong to the family of spiny-skinned animals or echinoderms. This group includes brittle stars, urchins, feather stars and sea cucumbers. Unique to this group are structures known as tubefeet. In starfish, tubefeet are mainly used for locomotion. They are attached to a water vascular system of seawater-filled canals inside the animals, and protrude through the body walls. They can be extended to varying lengths using hydraulic pressure, though they are retracted with muscles. To move, starfish first extend their tubefeet, take a grip, pull themselves along, then contract their tubefeet to put them down again and move them further along in the desired direction. This isn’t a method likely to win many races and would be a problem if starfish prey were fast-moving.

Carnivorous starfish, however, tend to go for stationary prey, like mussels. Starfish fold themselves over a prey mussel, apply their tubefeet to the opposing halves of the shell and begin to pull. The seawaterpowered tubefeet suck slightly, but experiments have shown that they also exude a sort of glue to attach themselves to their prey. Although each tubefoot only exerts a minuscule pressure, there are many of them, and as one begins to tire, another takes over. Their combined action eventually overcomes the strength of the mussel’s muscles. Starfish have their mouths on their undersides, and when the mussel shell opens, they turn their stomachs inside out through their mouths and begin to digest the animal whole. Even a tiny gap will do: some starfish can manage with a

30 Sea Rescue > winter 2010

underwater magic gap as small as 0.1mm. Digestion takes a couple of hours, and finally the resulting soup is sucked back into the starfish. The tubefeet then produce another chemical to detach their grip, and the starfish lumbers off in search of its next meal.

They can be voracious predators and, in the absence of their natural predators, can do tremendous damage to reef systems. This has been the case in the tropics with the notorious crown-ofthorns starfish. Its primary predator is a beautiful marine snail known as a giant triton. Souvenir demand for this snail’s shell has dramatically reduced its population, with the result that the crown-of-thorns has been able to flourish, unhindered by predation, and to eat corals in large quantities. Human efforts to control the population were initially hampered by yet another peculiarity of starfish: they can regenerate.

Conservation teams would collect the crown-ofthorns, cut them up and throw the pieces back into

same water-vascular system that controls their tubefeet for transporting dissolved oxygen and nutrients, and repairing cells around their bodies.

Being slow-moving, starfish could be easily colonised by other animals such as barnacles or moss animals. The fact that they aren’t is due to yet another peculiarity of their structure. Along with one other animal group, the much-ignored bryozoans, or moss animals, starfish have structures called pedicellariae on their surfaces. Some of these are beaked and their function is to snap at any settling organism, either killing or deterring it from lingering.

Some are whip-like and they sweep the starfish’s surface free of any debris or settling larvae before they have a chance to develop.

Starfish skeletons are made of plates of calcium carbonate crystals, which expand as the starfish grows, so they don’t need to moult as lobsters or crabs do. Uniquely among animals, starfish can alter

A STARFISH CAN REGENERATE ITS WHOLE BODY FROM ONE ARM, EVEN IF A SMALL PIECE OF ITS CENTRAL BODY is ATTACHED the sea. Unfortunately for the success of their efforts, starfish can regenerate their whole bodies from one arm even if a small piece of their central body remains attached, so all the teams were doing was increasing the number of predator starfish on the reefs. These days, the collected starfish are burned to prevent regeneration.

Studies have shown that starfish can regenerate even faster if a small plate on their upper body surface, known as the madreporite, is part of the body attached to the regenerating arm. Until recently it was thought that the only function of the madreporite was to control the internal pressure of echinoderms. It is a filter plate that can let water into or out of the animal and thus regulate its internal pressure, which is very important in animals living in tidal pools where water depths, and hence ambient pressure, can vary dramatically. Research in progress, however, has produced hints that this plate may have sensory functions and may act as a kind of central processor for the whole animal.

Even if it turns out that starfish do have a brain of sorts, and are therefore slightly more like other animals, even more peculiarities remain.

Starfish don’t have blood, and instead use the

the rigidity of their skeletons. The plates constituting their skeletons are joined by a connective tissue.

This tissue can rapidly convert between being rigid and being pliable, and allows starfish to move through gaps or enfold prey with ease. Just how the tissue works is unknown and remains one of the many mysteries surrounding starfish.

Some species of starfish, like the brooding cushion stars, retain their eggs and bear live young. These plump starfish have a secondary outer skin kept apart from the inner skin by a scaffolding structure. This is where the young develop. When brooding, they appear to breathe as they suck in fresh sea water for the developing juveniles and expel the stale water.

Most starfish, however, use the same reproduction technique as the majority of other marine animals, and rely on external fertilisation. They send sperm and eggs into the open sea to mingle and fertilise.

These eggs develop into bilaterally symmetrical larvae and, finally, metamorphose. The adults pursue their lives on reefs and in tidal pools, mysterious but instantly recognisable emblems of the sea.

Visit www.geoffspiby.co.za to view more photos

by Geoff Spiby. For any marine-life queries, visit www.surg.co.za.

Main photograph: Starfish, anemones and soft coral spotted on a Hermanus reef Top to bottom: The beginning of the end for an alikreukel – starfish are voracious predators; the sand starfish or Astropecten irregularis pontoporeus; starfish occur fairly commonly – here a diver illuminates a cave of colourful inhabitants in Oudekraal; a close-up of the tubefeet in action

Sea Rescue > winter 2010

31

partnerships

Passion, excellence and a community spirit If serendipity is the chance discovery of something delightful, then we are onto something good

I

n July 1985, Station 23 (Wilderness) used a healthy dose of courage and placed an article in the local George Herald with the headline ‘R16 000...

And the boat is named’. Their bravery (or perhaps naivety) paid off when, a few days later, Mr Len Silberman from Plettenberg Bay phoned to say that he wanted to sponsor the boat and to name it in honour of his father, Sam Silberman. The first rescue carried out by Sam (as we fondly called her), and the first life she subsequently saved, was on Sunday, 6 October 1985, when a young woman from Wilderness was plucked from the sea at Leentjiesklip.

Station 23 is undoubtedly one of the most visible stations in the country.

It is situated on the N2 adjacent to the Touw River in Wilderness in the heart of the Garden Route, one of South Africa’s most visited tourist destinations. It is one of the more busier stations, covering the rocky and sandy coastline between Herold’s Bay and Sedgefield. Because of the area’s treacherous waters, we frequently hit media headlines with our rescues and missions. We are also the proud holders of the prestigious NSRI ‘Station of the Year’ award for 2009.

The team operates from a ‘log cabin’ on the beach and, while the building has served our station well, she is starting to show her age. Part of our vision for a new building is to have an education centre, museum and restaurant, so that we can include the community in the work we do.

This has been our dream for eight years but with any dream comes an obligation, and so it was that we started a process of getting proper approvals and conducting a public tender process. The internationally acclaimed local restaurant, Serendipity, has been awarded the tender. Restaurant owner Rudolf Stolze loves the sea and has been actively involved in funding Wilderness NSRI for many years. Rudolf and his wife, Lizelle, share our dream of combining a beach-based educational centre with the boathouse, and will be actively assisting us in finding a suitable sponsor.

PHOTOGRAPH: ANDREW INGRAM

Passion, excellence and a community spirit are what drive the NSRI – and this is where Serendipity saw the synergy.

Serendipity is a small, family-run restaurant and guesthouse in Wilderness.

It has been blessed with many awards over the past nine years. The Michelin Guide for Southern Africa called it the ‘best table in the area... a remarkable gastronomic voyage’, and it has been honoured as one of the Top 100 restaurants in South Africa for six consecutive years (since 2003). Serendipity has been part of the BOE and Moët & Chandon Restaurant Circle Top 30 Guide for four years running. American Express Platinum Fine Dining Programme listed Serendipity in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and it has been included in the CXPress Garden Route Top 10 every year since 2004.

This year, Lizelle was chosen as one of the Top 10 Young South African Chefs in South Africa by the South African Tourism Board. She also received a special Achievement Award from the CXPress Garden Route Top 10.

Rudolf sums up their sentiment: ‘When the opportunity presented itself to get involved with the proposed NSRI educational centre, we jumped at it. The concept is a brilliant one, and we are honoured to be associated with such an incredible organisation. We are looking forward to this new project and can’t wait to weave our culinary magic on the beach as part of this initiative.’

Visit Rudolf and Lizelle Stolze at www.serendipitywilderness.com.

WORDS: TORSTEN HENSCHEL

PHOTOGRAPH: henk kruger/WEEKEND ARGUS

Part of our vision for a new building is to have an education centre, museum and restaurant, so that we can include the community in the work we do

Main photograph: the WiIderness rescue base will soon include a small family restaurant, education centre and NSRI museum Left: (top to bottom) Lizelle and Rudolf Stolze of Serendipity. The couple sponsored Station 23’s 4.2m RIB; seared ostrich fillet – one of Lizelle’s creations; crewmen Donald Olivier and Jaco de Jongh on Serendipity assisting Nigel Olef of Mount Meer after the Sedgefield floods; launching on Wilderness beach

Sea Rescue > winter 2010

33

medical case studies

Listen

UP…

Are there preventative measures that can be taken?

What is surfer’s ear?

Surfers and other sports enthusiasts can use a neoprene hood that covers the ears to keep them warm. Earplugs and swimming caps will also help to keep the ears dry.

As Dr Cleeve Robertson tells us more about exostosis, commonly known as surfer’s ear

Surfer’s ear is a condition where small bony outgrowths (osteomas) in the external ear grow from the wall of the ear canal towards the centre, eventually blocking off the canal. Surfers who surf in cold water are commonly affected but the condition can also affect people engaging in other activities in cold, wet and windy conditions, such as swimmers, divers, sailors, kitesurfers and board sailors.

What causes it?

The cold water stimulates the bony growth. This normally takes place over several years, so it’s normally the older surfer who develops the condition, which commonly presents from around age 30. Those who surf in cold water are six times more likely to develop surfer’s ear than those enjoying the waves in warmer waters.

Who is most susceptible?

Anybody who regularly swims in cold water without protection of the outer ear canals runs the risk of developing surfer’s ear.

Is it different to swimmer’s ear?

Swimmer’s ear is an infection of the outer ear caused by bacteria that are encouraged to cause infection because the ears are continuously damp. The ear discharges a yellow fluid, and is uncomfortable, painful and itchy.

What are the symptoms of surfer’s ear?

Surfer’s ear normally presents with secondary infection of the outer ear or deafness. Other symptoms include an increase in the number of painful ear infections, and difficulty in evacuating debris or water from the ear, resulting in the sufferer experiencing a ‘plugged’ sensation.

34 Sea Rescue > winter 2010

External canal

What treatment options are available?

The outgrowths don’t really present until very late, when the ear canal is almost completely blocked off and the patient is quite deaf. The only option then is surgery.

The bony outgrowths are normally drilled out while the patient is under general anaesthetic. Ear surgeons may approach the area directly via the ear canal or by making an incision behind the ear and dissecting the ear forward. Some surgeons now prefer to use 1mm chisels to remove the obstructing bone and enter directly through the ear canal.

This technique enhances skin preservation and allows the procedure to be performed under local anaesthetic.

During recuperation from surgery, it’s important to not expose the ear canal to water to minimise the chance of infection or complications.

Depending on which type of surgery is used, it may take several weeks to several months for the ear to heal.

Unprotected exposure of the ear canal to cold water and wind after treatment can lead to regrowth of the bone and the need for repeated operations on the same ear.

Dr Cleeve Robertson is the Director of Emergency Medical Services, Western Cape, and voluntary Chief Medical Advisor to the NSRI. Apart from being passionate about caring for people, he loves mountain climbing and scuba-diving. He’s also involved in underwater photography and skipper training.

image: www.sxc.hu/www.theydidthis.co.za

Surfer’s ear

RESCUE REPORTS NSRI RESCUE CREW RESPOND ANY TIME – DAY OR NIGHT

Snoekie found WAY OFF COURSE

ILLUSTRATION: DARRYL EDWARDES

On 1 May at 19h05, Station 24 (Lambert’s Bay) and Station 4 (Mykonos) were alerted to the fact that the 26-foot snoek-fishing vessel Snoekie, with 11 crew on board, was overdue.

Ron Selley, Lambert’s Bay station commander, said local snoek fishermen launched four boats to begin a search, and the Transnet National Ports Authority was informed.

The Maritime Radio Services broadcast an all-ships alert on the marine-emergency radio frequency, and a number of vessels in the area, including two deck boats and several private boats, volunteered to assist in the search.

In the meantime, Maritime Radio Services continued intermittently to try to raise the boat on marine radio frequencies.

A South African Air Force (SAAF) 35 Squadron Dakota aircraft was placed on alert to launch at first light.

At approximately 22h45, communications were established with the missing boat and Soutrivier, one of the deck boats in the area, was dispatched to the coordinates. By 05h08 the casualty boat had been located and taken under tow by Soutrivier.

Snoekie was found 40nm west of Lambert’s Bay. The crew on board reported that they had run out of fuel in the afternoon and had drifted some 55nm from their original position. A crewman told the NSRI that they fired a host of red distress flares while they drifted but none of them were spotted.

Once safely ashore, the crew members were happily reunited with their families.

PHOTOGRAPHS: Frederick von Heyer, Kim Germishuys, Anthony Allen

rescue reports

Clockwise from top left: Station 8 (Hout Bay) out on an exercise; Keenan Gambara, Pippa Escreet, Michael Meyer and Kyle Zaayman; Kim Germishuys from Station 18 (Melkbosstrand) has a little fun with the SAAF pilots after a joint exercise; inter-station exercise hosted by Station 8 (Hout Bay); AndrĂŠ Beuster (Station 18), Shaun Elliott (Station 18) and Chris Camp (Station 8); controller Andy Matthews (Station 8) managing the radio operations during a 2010 preparedness exercise

THANKS TO THE CTBi for assistance during the world cup During the 2010 World Cup, the Cape Town Boatbuilding initiative (CTBi) came to the rescue of Station 3 (Table Bay) with the kind offer of a backup mooring facility for the stationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 3m Spirit of Vodacom. The CTBi manages the Elliot Basin Marina in the harbour for the commissioning and repair of locally-built boats and visiting yachts. They made a space available for the secure berth of the rescue vessel, which allowed volunteer crew faster access to the boat in an emergency. With mooring facilities in the harbour and the V&A precinct at a premium, we are most grateful to the CTBi for their assistance.

Sea Rescue > winter 2010

37

rescue reports

ORIGINAL BOATHOUSE 1971

A TRANSFORMATION that would make Cinderella PROUD Station 15 (Mossel Bay) has always been known as a ‘functional’ base. There was nothing pretty about their boathouse – but pretty is unimportant when you’re a hard worker. Before the end of this year, the base will be getting a reconditioned (but ‘new’ to them) 10m Brede rescue boat, so major renovations needed to be done to accommodate the new addition. The project was completed in time and slightly under budget. The crew deserve a hearty round of applause for pulling off this feat in times where donations are not easy to come by.

RENOVATED BASE

FIT ON AND OFF THE WATER At 12h20 on 31 March, Station 12 (Knysna) was called to Featherbed Nature Reserve, following reports that a tourist had fallen on the hiking trail.

Rescue crew and medics hiked approximately 1km to reach 65-yearold Raymond Christina, from Florida in the US, who had fallen while walking with his wife, Doris.

Raymond was treated for bruises and abrasions, and carried by rescuers to the rescue craft using the fireman’s lift carry technique.

He and his wife were taken on board Colorpress Rescuer and transported to the rescue base in Knysna, where they were met by a Metro ambulance. Raymond was transported to hospital, where his wounds were cleaned and dressed.

Then on Sunday, 4 April, at 19h43, Station 14 (Plettenberg Bay) was asked to assist in the search for a man thought to be lost on the Robberg Nature Reserve hiking trail.

Alexandro Pelaes, 31, from Spain, and two female friends were returning from The Point when they became separated on their way to the car park. The ladies raised the alarm, because they were obviously concerned that Alexandro was still out on the trail after dark.

Plettenberg Bay duty crew dispatched three land parties and the NSRI rescue vehicle, and Alexandro was found on the hiking trail near the top of Witsand. He was escorted to the car park where he was reunited with his friends. No further assistance was required.

At around the same time, Station 33 (Witsand) station commander Attie Gunter was called following a request for assistance from the family of Buzz de Villiers (55), a London resident originally from Swellendam.

38 Sea Rescue > winter 2010

interior

The family reported that Buzz had called them from his cellphone, telling them he had fallen down a cliff while hiking. He said he had just woken up from being unconscious and was somewhere in the vicinity of Drie Gaatjies on the Cape Infanta side of the Breede River. He said he was injured; he didn’t know the extent of his injuries but he needed help.

Volunteer members of the public on the Cape Infanta side of the Breede River had already mobilised to begin searching for Buzz. Station 33 volunteers launched their rescue craft, while the rescue team drove around to the Infanta side of the Breede River to join in the search-andrescue operation. The Metro Ambulance and Rescue Services, Overberg Disaster Management and a team from Wilderness Search and Rescue (WSAR) all joined the search.

Fortunately Buzz had a torch and a cellphone with him, so the search operation got a fix on his position quite quickly. At approximately 20h30 he was found below a cliff near the water’s edge at Drie Gaatjies, Cape Infanta. He was suffering from lacerations and abrasions, and a spinal injury was suspected. He also showed signs of being confused and disorientated, which indicated the possibility of a head injury. Buzz was stabilised on the scene and secured into a Stokes basket. Due to the nature of the terrain, a decision was made to continue treating him on the scene and have him airlifted in the morning by helicopter.

Witsand volunteers were relieved from the scene at approximately 04h30 the following morning, when Buzz was placed in the care of the Metro, Disaster Management and WSAR paramedics. He was airlifted by helicopter and transported to hospital in Swellendam, where he was reported to be in a stable condition.

Standing by at the Ski Boat Festival

Photographs: Jacques Sellschop USING A Nikon

Jacques Sellschop took these photographs at the Ski Boat Festival where Station 32 (Port Edward) stayed on stand-by for the entire event.

ILLUSTRATION: DARRYL EDWARDES

rescue reports

discovered by chance

Beaching on Boknes

Station 6 (Port Elizabeth) was activated at 08h05 on 28 March after reports that three men were found floating in the sea by a fishing party on a rubber duck about 1nm offshore of St Croix Island. Piet Greyling, the skipper of the rubber duck Dancing Dolphin, requested urgent assistance from the NSRI as the three men were hypothermic. He had taken them on board but he was pressed for space because he already had a full load of people on his boat, which had been on a fishing trip.

Port Elizabeth duty crew launched Eikos Rescuer II and Spirit of Toft and, on arrival on the scene, transferred the two men and the teenager (skipper Riaan Denysschen, 49, and his crewmen Deon Zeelie, 47, and Cameron Kozak, 16) to the rescue craft. Cameron was treated for hypothermia by paramedics before they were all taken safely to Coega harbour.

The boat, a 4.2m river cabin boat with a 40HP motor, had filled with water before capsizing and was located semi-submerged. The NSRI rescue craft towed the casualty vessel to Coega harbour, where it was righted.

The three casualties explained they had launched at the Swartkops River mouth in Port Elizabeth before sunrise and had capsized at around 06h30. While Deon used an empty petrol canister to try stay afloat, the remaining two held onto the upturned hull of the small boat. Their handheld radio had fallen overboard but they managed to recover two lifejackets. At some point after capsizing, they spotted a rubber duck in the distance, so they shouted and used their refereeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s whistles to try to get the attention of the rubber-duck crew. After all efforts failed, Deon swam after the boat, using the petrol canister for flotation. After swimming about half a kilometre, he managed to get their attention and the rubber duck diverted to go to their assistance. The NSRI was called after the casualties were taken on board.

The three men were only due to return at around lunch time, so had they not been rescued by Dancing Dolphin, the alarm would have only been raised well into the afternoon. They had spent an hour and a half in the water before being rescued.

On Friday, 16 April, at 08h05, Station 11 (Port Alfred) and Station 6 (Port Elizabeth) were alerted to a yacht reported to have run aground at Boknes Beach, between Port Elizabeth and Port Alfred.

Station 11 station commander Juan Pretorius said they found the yacht Charisma hard aground. She had apparently run aground at approximately 04h00. Skipper Brian Duggett, 65, and Deborah Robinson, 21, both from Port Elizabeth, were found uninjured. The NSRI crew helped to remove valuables from the yacht.

The two left Port Elizabeth in the early hours of the morning on Thursday, 15 April, and headed north. At approximately 02h00 on Friday morning, the wind came up and changed from a southwesterly to an easterly. Although they were only sailing on a small storm sail, the rough weather and gale-force winds caused Brian to be thrown overboard while he was attempting to start the engine at around 03h30.

He was wearing his harness, which was attached to the yacht, but he did not have the strength to pull himself aboard. He did manage to hold onto the motor at the back of the yacht and yell instructions to Deborah to beach the yacht on the nearest land in an effort to save his life. She steered the yacht onto Boknes Beach at about 04h00.

The area where they came aground is protected by a reef, approximately a mile long, but somehow the yacht, with her skipper dragging behind, made it through the reef unscathed.

40 Sea Rescue > winter 2010

Below: Crew attend to the beached vessel Charisma

Above: The long call-out team – Gordon Botha, Pieter Engelbrecht, Anton Poplett, Ash Appleby, Rudi Fisch and Ian Gross

On track in the fog On Wednesday, 19 May, at 23h30, I was on my way home when I got the text, ‘NSRI: Call-out. Need volunteers for a very long call-out’. I chatted with my girlfriend and thought that even a ‘long call-out’ couldn’t be much more than 12 hours (which was all I could afford because I was due to move house in 36 hours’ time). I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I dropped off my girlfriend and headed for the station. After going through boat checks with Pieter Engelbrecht, I was told we’d be heading to Hondeklipbaai. Being relatively new to the NSRI, I assumed my lack of local knowledge was the reason the name didn’t ring a bell. It was only when no-one could find a chart that went far enough north for Hondeklipbaai that I realised this really was going to be a long call-out.

I wondered for a while why we were going that far up. Surely there was someone a bit closer that could help the stricken vessel? Then I learnt that, although the sea conditions were calm, there was very poor visibility due to fog in the Hondeklipbaai area. Because of the nature of the operation, it was decided that Station 3’s (Table Bay) Spirit of Vodacom, should make its way to the area in case the fog conditions continued till the morning. Station 4 (Mykonos) was already sending a crew to Hondeklipbaai, towing their 5.5m RIB rescue craft the 150km by road.

We made our way north and within three hours we were at Mykonos to refuel; around six hours later, we were closing in on Hondeklipbaai.

Although radio communications were interrupted on occasion, and at times non-existent, our shore-based crew could continuously monitor our progress, thanks to the recently fitted Altech Netstar maritime tracking system that had been configured for NSRI use.

By mid-morning on 20 May, airborne assistance and the Mykonos rescue vessel were in the area, so we could stand down and head for home. We arrived at Mykonos at around 23h30 that night to refuel, and received a fantastic welcome of burgers and chips. (Thanks, guys!)

I had a nap between Lambert’s Bay and Mykonos, so I offered to take the helm for a while to give the other guys a rest. Anton Poplett was my navigator and set waypoints on the GPS, and for most of the trip home this was enough. Despite zero visibility, we constantly knew where we were.

However, as we closed in on Robben Island and Table Bay Harbour, I knew a little more assistance was required. Delighted that I had got us this far, I was allowed to continue at the helm, under the watchful eye of Ian Gross and Rudi Fisch, our two senior coxswains on board.

I know Table Bay well but I had never navigated into the harbour at night,

with little visibility, so now we were entirely dependent on the tools on board. The Navnet electronic navigation system allowed us to keep our waypoint for the breakwater showing on the radar display, while the split screen meant we were also able to display our echo sounder and sonar readings. Using these three tools alone, we navigated around a container vessel in the area and straight into the shipping lane designed to direct vessels into the V&A Waterfront section of the harbour.

We arrived back at our station at 04h00 (28 hours after departing), and were welcomed with a hot cuppa and sandwiches. I got home at 05h00, just in time to defrost the freezer and pack the final boxes for the move.

Ash Appelby r

Win a Leatherman Charge AL and a Leatherman Serac S2 Torch

Leatherman enthusiasts stand a chance to win a Leatherman Charge AL and a Leatherman Serac S2 Torch. All you have to do is write to us and tell us how your Leatherman has helped you recently, whether it was during a rescue operation, on your boat or at home. Photographs welcome.

Leatherman Charge AL

The Leatherman Charge AL is a force to be reckoned with. It has more than 18 uses and comes with a 25-year guarantee.

Features: Hard-anodised aluminium handles, needle-nose pliers, regular pliers, wire cutters, 154cm clip-point knife, serrated knife, saw, scissors, wood/metal file, diamond-coated file, large bit driver, large screwdriver, small bit driver, eight double-end bits, 19cm ruler, bottle/can opener, wire stripper, removable pocket clip, closed length: 10.2cm, weight: 238.14g.

Leatherman Serac 2

A versatile torch that can be used as a headlight and is small enough to fit on a keychain. Comes with a guarantee of 10 years.

Features: Personal light with two outputs: one long-life fivelumen light, and one with a dazzling 35-lumen brightness, circlip attachment ring.

To enter: Send you story and/or photographs to Sea Rescue/Leatherman

Competition, PO Box 15054, Vlaeberg 8018, before 30 September 2010, or email wmaritz@tppsa.co.za. The winning story will be published in the Summer 2010 issue of Sea Rescue.

Operations > 14 658 / Persons assisted > 26 235

Sea Rescue > winter 2010

41

STN 2 // BAKOVEN StatCom: Mark Thompson ( 082 990 5962 Fuel sponsor: Engen Craft: Spirit of Rotary Table Bay – 6m rescue craft Needs: High-pressure water jet cleaner (eg Karcher)

STN 3 // TABLE BAY StatCom: Pat van Eyssen ( 082 990 5963 Fuel sponsor: Shell Craft: Spirit of Vodacom – 13m deep-sea rescue craft,

Rotary Endeavour – 5.5m RIB Needs: Air-conditioner for training room

STN 4 // MYKONOS StatCom: Craft:

Needs:

Darius van Niekerk ( 082 990 5966 Spirit of Freemasonry – 9m deep-sea rescue craft, Gemini Rescuer II – 5.5m RIB, Loved 1s 24:. – 4.2m RIB High-pressure hose

STN 5 // DURBAN StatCom: Andrew Stevens ( 082 990 5948 Fuel sponsor: Engen Craft: Eikos Rescuer II – 10m deep-sea rescue craft,

Megan II – 7m RIB, Spirit of Svitzer – 3.9m RIB Needs: Dehumidifier

STN 6 // PORT ELIZABETH StatCom: Ian Gray ( 082 990 5970 Fuel sponsor: Engen Craft: Spirit of Toft – 10m deep-sea rescue craft, Eikos

Rescuer III – 7.3m RIB, Boardwalk Rescuer – 4.2m RIB Needs: Stove (preferably gas), new boathouse floor, binoculars

STN 7 // EAST LONDON StatCom: Craft:

Needs:

Geoff McGregor ( 082 990 5972 Spirit of Lotto – 13m deep-sea rescue craft, Spirit of Rotary East London – 5.5m RIB Fuel sponsor

STN 8 // HOUT BAY StatCom: Brad Geyser ( 082 372 8792 Fuel sponsor: Engen Craft: MTU Nadine Gordimer – 10m deep-sea rescue craft,

Albie Matthews – 7.3m RIB Needs: 4 Icom M36 radios and waterproof extension microphones

STN 9 // GORDON’S BAY StatCom: Craft:

Needs:

Nigel Pepperell ( 083 625 0481 Sanlam Rescuer – 10m deep-sea rescue craft, Douglas Murray – 5.5m RIB, Inge – 3.2m Swedish Rescue Runner Fenders (large), kitchen cupboards, toolkit

STN 10 // SIMON’S TOWN StatCom: Craft:

Needs:

Darren Zimmermann ( 082 990 5965 Spirit of Safmarine III – 10m deep-sea rescue craft, Eddie Beaumont II – 5.5m RIB Data projector for training room

STN 11 // PORT ALFRED StatCom: Craft:

Needs:

Juan Pretorius ( 082 990 5971 Kowie Rescuer – 9m deep-sea rescue craft, Arthur Scales – 5.5m RIB, Discovery Rescue Runner 5 A good set of tools, helmets

STN 12 // KNYSNA StatCom: Craft:

Needs:

Graeme Harding ( 082 990 5956 Colorpress Rescuer – 8.5m RIB, Jaytee III – 5.5m RIB, Spirit of KYC III – 4.2m RIB Wet and dry vacuum cleaner

STN 14 // PLETTENBeRG BAY StatCom: Ray Farnham ( 082 990 5975 Fuel sponsor: Engen Craft: Ian Hepburn – 7.3m RIB, Sally Joan – 5m RIB,

Airlink Rescuer – 4.2m Zapcat,

Discovery Rescue Runner 2 Needs: Mae West life jackets

STN 15 // MOSSEL BAY StatCom: Craft:

Needs:

Dawie Zwiegelaar ( 082 990 5954 Vodacom Rescuer – 9m deep-sea craft, Vodacom Rescuer II – 5.5m RIB, Vodacom Rescuer IV – 4.2m RIB Basic furniture, eg stackable chairs, tables and cupboards

STN 16 // STRANDFONTEIN StatCom: Michael Saunders ( 082 990 6753 Fuel sponsor: Engen Craft: Spirit of GrandWest CSI – 5.5m RIB, I&J Rescuer III –

4.7m RIB, Discovery Rescue Runner 3 Needs: High-pressure hose

STN 17 // HERMANUS StatCom: Henk Henn ( 082 568 1829 Fuel sponsor: Engen Craft: South Star – 10m deep-sea rescue craft, Hunters Gold

Rescuer – 5.5m RIB, Doris Bell – 4.2m RIB Needs: Dehumidifier, waterproof binoculars

STN 18 // MELKBOSSTRAND StatCom: Craft:

Needs:

Rhine Barnes ( 082 990 5958 Spirit of Rotary Blouberg – 5.5m RIB, Men’s Health Rescuer – 4.2m Zapcat, Discovery Rescue Runner 4 Two new boatshed doors, data projector for training

THE NSRI IS MANNED BY 920 VOLUNTEERS AT 30 BASES AROUND THE COAST AND ON THREE INLAND DAMS. if you need to reach NSRI after hours, please call Meriel Bartlett on 082 994 7555 or Craig Lambinon on 082 380 3800. OUR VOLUNTEERS HAVE DAY JOBS, BUT WILL ALWAYS RESPOND TO YOUR EMERGENCY. FOR GENERAL INFORMATION, PLEASE CALL NSRI’S HEAD OFFICE IN CAPE TOWN ON (021) 434-4011

STN 19 // RICHARDS BAY StatCom: Mark Hughes ( 082 990 5949 Fuel sponsor: Engen Craft: Spirit of Richards Bay – 12m deep-sea rescue craft,

Spirit of Round Table – 7m RIB, Rotary Ann – 4m RIB Needs: R5 million sponsorship for naming rights

STN 20 // SHELLEY BEACH StatCom: Mark Harlen ( 082 990 5950 Fuel sponsor: Caltex Craft: Caltex Endeavour – 7.3m RIB, Caltex Challenger –

5.5m RIB, Caltex Discovery – 3.8m RIB Needs: Wet and dry vacuum cleaner

STN 21 // ST FRANCIS BAY StatCom: Craft:

Needs:

Gary Ryder ( 082 990 5969 Spirit of St Francis II – 8.5m RIB, Eikos Rescuer I – 5.5m RIB, Pierre – 4.7m RIB Dehumidifier, laptop computer

STN 22 // VAAL DAM StatCom: Craft: Needs:

Dick Manten ( 083 626 5128 Harvey’s Fibreglass – 5.5m RIB Headlamps

STN 23 // WILDERNESS StatCom: Hennie Niehaus ( 082 990 5955 Fuel sponsor: Engen Craft: Spirit of Rotary 100 – 5.5m RIB, Serendipity – 4.2m

RIB,Swart Tobie – 4.2m RIB, Discovery Rescue Runner 1 Needs: Waterproof Pelican case

STN 24A // LAMBERT’S BAY StatCom: Craft:

Ron Selley ( 083 922 4334 Private vessels are used for rescues

STN 25 // HARTBEESPOORT DAM StatCom: André Kachelhoffer ( 082 990 5961 Fuel sponsor: Shell Craft: Afrox Rescuer II – 5.5m RIB, Vodacom Rescuer 5 – 4.2m RIB Needs: Binoculars

STN 26 // KOMMETJIE StatCom: Craft: Needs:

Ian Klopper ( 082 990 5979 Rotary Winelands – 5.5m RIB, FNB Wavescapes – 4.7m RIB Public support for a rescue base (after 12 years of paperwork)

STN 27 // VICTORIA LAKE, GERMISTON StatCom: Craft: Needs:

Graham Hartlett ( 082 441 6989 Vodacom Rescuer 6 – 4.7m RIB Data projector for training

STN 28A // PORT ST JOHNS StatCom: Craft:

John Costello ( 082 550 5430 Freemason’s Way – 5.5m RIB

STN 30 // AGULHAS StatCom: Craft: Needs:

Shane Kempen ( 082 990 5952 Vodacom Rescuer 7 – 8.5m RIB, Crusader – 3.7m RIB Portable petrol water-extrication pump

STN 31 // STILL BAY StatCom: Craft: Needs:

Enrico Menezies ( 082 990 5978 Spirit of St Francis – 7.3m RIB, Walvan Rescuer – 4.2m RIB Ropes: 30m and 50m each in 12mm,15mm and 20mm

STN 32 // PORT EDWARD StatCom: Craft:

Needs:

Mick Banks ( 076 617 5002 Wild Coast Sun Rescuer – 7.3m RIB, Discovery Rescue Runner 6 High-pressure hose

STN 33 // WITSAND StatCom: Craft: Needs:

Attie Gunter ( 082 990 5957 Queenie Paine – 5.5m RIB, Falcon Rescuer – 4.5m RIB Desk, training table, screen, overhead projector

STN 34 // YZERFONTEIN StatCom: Craft: Needs:

André Nel ( 082 990 5974 Rotary Onwards – 7.3m RIB, Spirit of Iffley – 4.2m RIB Support to build a boathouse

STN 35A // WAVECREST, WILD COAST StatCom:

Conrad Winterbach

( 083 306 3037/047 498 0042

ASRU (Air Sea Rescue Unit) StatCom: Needs:

André Beuster ( 083 677 7946 Dry suits, personal EPIRBs

Die manne van Stasie 23 (Wildernes) het ’n indrukwekkende gereedskapskis losgedans in die Sedgefield Lions se jaarlikse Melodrama

CATCH MY DRIFT

water, water

everywhere...

TIME STANDS STILL WHEN YOU ARE WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO HELP YOU

44 Sea Rescue > WINTER 2010

water into our house was what I would call the opposite of romantic.

The plumber, in the meantime, was outside some other house trying to call our landline. We couldn’t hear anything for the deafening sound of water. Luckily I ventured, or should I say waded, into the house for some or other reason and heard the phone. The voice on the line asked where I was. Well, where I was was clearly where the plumber wasn’t. Once we cleared up the address issue, he was there in minutes. He rushed in like Superman, pausing only to grab the headlight I passed to him, then smashed open the ceiling cover and switched off whatever it was that need to be switched off on the geyser.

I was never so happy to see anyone in my life!

He left as swiftly as he’d arrived, like Mr Muscle on a mission. ‘You can put your lights back on’, he shouted as he sped off to his 400th call-out of the day.

FIVE MINUTES ARE LIKE FIVE HOURS WHEN YOU’RE WAITING FOR HELP It was about 9pm. The carpets were soaked, the kitchen and lounge were under water, and the bathroom... well, the bathroom was pretty much in pieces.

I began to sweep the water out the front door with a broom, a wholly futile exercise. Even the dogs were giving me strange looks.

I gave up. We grabbed the car keys and headed off to our local pub. It was karaoke night and someone was trying very hard to sing ‘November Rain’ by Guns N’ Roses.

At this point we had to smile.

I know that waiting for a plumber is hardly like waiting to be rescued, but for a small while, I could appreciate how time stands still when you are waiting for someone to help you. It seems endless. Five minutes are like five hours. It reminded me again of how the volunteers at Sea Rescue will spend hours searching, sometimes in the worst of conditions, until they find you. And for those waiting, take comfort that the men and women in red will get there as soon as they can!

WORDS: WENDY MARITZ, illustration: darryl edwardes

It happens to every family at least once – and I’m not referring to the psychotic half-brother who arrives on the doorstep, threatening to reveal dark family secrets. I’m talking about something far more dramatic: the day the geyser decides it’s had enough.

For us, that special day was 25 March. I was preparing the goodies I wanted to take to the NSRI Golf Day the following morning when my husband, Gavin, called me to take a look at the bathroom floor. It was wet.

He could read my mind and quickly added it wasn’t his fault, or our Jack Russell Milo’s.

But before I could even make a mental note to call the plumber, water began gushing through the light fitting in the ceiling. Gavin ran for buckets and pots, I ran to call our insurance’s home-assist service, and the dogs ran for cover.

I wasn’t terribly thrilled when I was told the plumber could only come in an hour and a half. And my non-handyman husband wasn’t terribly thrilled when I told him he could switch something off on the geyser to stop the water in the meantime. ‘What thing? I’m not going up there.

Besides, how am I supposed to get up there?’ We don’t have a ladder, so I couldn’t argue. I asked him to switch off the electricity instead.

The water was now pouring freely from the cracks that had formed around the light fitting. Pretty soon we heard that awful cracking sound of something not able to take an unbearable weight above it. Several large pieces of bathroom ceiling came crashing down.

I ran to call the insurance’s home-assist line again, and my husband and the dogs just ran!

To cut a long story short, the house began to fill with water. I dammed up the bathroom door as best I could with towels and loose mats, but this merely slowed down the steady flow of water that was making its way into every part of our home.

While Gavin ran to save his golf clubs (because everyone knows that they dissolve in water), I picked up everything that could get damaged off the floor, grabbed a jersey and went outside. The dogs made their way to higher ground, curling up on the couches in the lounge.

Then we sat on the stoep and waited for the plumber.

It was pitch dark and it was cold. And the sound of the geyser raining

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