WC sees two yacht rescues in 24 hours

The Simon’s Town duty crew of the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) battled heavy seas with three- to four-metre swells and gale force winds to rescue a yacht which was in urgent need of assistance at lunchtime on Thursday.

Darren Zimmerman, NSRI Simon’s Town station commander, described how the yacht, Cosmos, reported it was taking on water and was battling rudder steering problems in gale force winds in the deep sea in the southwest of Hermanus. There were three crew on board from Turkey, Indonesia and Cape Town.

Zimmerman said at first the NSRI Hermanus duty crew were activated, but on investigation, it was determined that the yatch was further west than initially anticipated, and so the Simon’s Town duty crew was activated.

He said their sea-rescue craft towed the yacht to Simon’s Town, where another sea-rescue craft was launched to assist in bringing the yacht into the harbour.

The incident comes after another yacht rescue operation was conducted by NSRI Hout Bay on Wednesday evening. According to Lyall Pringle, who is the station commander for NSRI Hout Bay, the duty crew responded to reports of that the yacht, Aquamaniac, with five crew on board, had run aground on Hout bay beach. Pringle said this was during the normal Hout Bay Yacht Club Wednesday evening sailing

“An NSRI crewman, who was on board one of the yachts in Hout Bay at the time, raised the alarm after witnessing the casualty yacht run aground,” said Pringle.

“On arrival on the scene, the yacht was found in shallow surf on the beach and a bystander was assisting to keep the yacht stable. With assistance of our NSRI shore crew and a rescue swimmer that swam a towline ashore a towline was rigged, and the yacht was towed off the beach, and we towed her to her berth in Hout Bay Harbour, and no further assistance was required.”

The rescued yacht on the beach. Picture: NSRI Hout Bay

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