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COURSES ON OFFERS.P.I.C.E. GAP YEAR – 30 day programme (incl. STCW 95)YACHTMASTER –15 week (ending in Cape at RYA Exam Centre)COASTAL SKIPPER – 8 weeks (ending in Cape at RYA Exam Centre)

SAS: SOUTH AFRICAN SAILING COURSESYacht hand (4 days) Yacht Skipper (5 days)Above courses combined: COMBO 9 daysSA SAILING (SAS) is the only sailing qualification recognized by South African Port Authorities

INLAND SAILORS—KILL 2 BIRDS WITH 1 STONE!!!Do your course in Durban and apply for a SAS Yacht Skipper conversion which will make you legal for both inland and offshore sailing!FOR THE COURSE OF YOUR CHOICE—CALL LIBBY OR KAREN136 Victoria Embankment, Durban * Tel: (031) 307 7944 * Fax: (031) 306 2066 E-mail: bookings@yachtsman.co.za * Website: www.yachtsman.co.za

Offshore Sailing AcademyChris & Libby Bonnet – since 1979

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

WINNING LETTERCongratulations to Mr PJ Hannabus who wrote the winning letter. We hope you will enjoy your case of Slaley wines.

MEMORY SEA-LANEThe Autumn 2007 issue of Sea Rescue featured a coffee-table book called The Southern Tip of Africa. I was born at the lighthouse (Cape Agulhas) that is depicted on the cover on 13 June 1954. On either side of the lighthouse tower were the houses for the first and second assistant keepers. Inside the base of the tower was the Lister generator that powered the light from sunset to sunrise.

My father, ‘Babsie’ Hannabus, and my mother, Eunice, told me how, as a baby, the heavy vibrations of the Lister used to help me sleep throughout the night!

In 1956, we were transferred to Lüderitz, situated on the west coast of Namibia. There, at Diaz Point lighthouse, the sandstorms were so severe and so far out to sea, that the foghorn had to be activated.

I obtained my 1nm skipper’s ticket at the Leading Light Academy in East London, under the tuition of Len Wallace and Geoff McGregor of Station 7.

Since my uncle, my father, my grandfather and I have all been lighthouse keepers at various times between 1908 and 1975, we have always been close to the sea and maritime adventures. My older relatives used to fire the old rockets over the vessels to carry the line for the bosun’s chair rescue system, winching one crew member to shore at a time. There were many mishaps with the monthly rocket practice. Once, the rope, coiled in a figure eight, caught the keeper’s leg, jerking the rocket off course and smashing it onto the lighthouse glazing. They were very thankful when the NSRI was established at strategic points!

We had to work three shifts in every 24 hours. Some stations had radio comms with ships on channels 16 and 2182. We compiled meteorological reports every three hours, and phoned them in to the nearest airport. Lighthouses were a vital source of nautical information for yacht races, and port captains often phoned us for information regarding names of vessels or barometric pressure movements.

Unfortunately, lighthouses are now just working monuments. Only Cape Point is still active, controlling Cape Hangklip by telemetry. Southern Lights: Lighthouses of South Africa by Harold Williams, our local lighthouse engineer, gives a good account of the old lighthouse service.

Thank you for a lovely magazine. (I came across a copy in a garage waiting room and really enjoyed it.) I will be subscribing and joining the NSRI.PS: Your Christmas cards are great!PJ Hannabus, East London

DANKIE, NSRIEk wil graag mnr. Ian Hamilton, Streeksbestuurder van die NSRI, asook mnr. Ian Wienburg, CEO van die NSRI, hartlik bedank vir die erkenning en groot eer wat Alta (Mossie) te beurt geval het met die Gallantry Award (Brons) wat sy op 5 Desember 2008 ontvang het. Dankie ook aan die Burgemeester, mev. Marie Ferreira, wat die oorhandiging gedoen het. Dit was ’n pragtige, aandoenlike aand – veral toe ek die ware toedrag van sake wat op 24 September te Groot Brak afgespeel het gehoor het. Ek is baie trots op my enigste dogter, Mossie, en haar toekennings het ’n ereplek in ons huis.

My opregte dank en waardering gaan ook aan Stasie 15, Mosselbaai, se stasiebevelvoerder, Dawie Zwiegelaar, en Justin McCarthy – dankie dat julle Mossie bygestaan het daardie dag.

Ek wil ook ieder en elk van die Bestuur en lede van die NSRI Stasie 15, Mosselbaai, asook hul families hartlik bedank vir jul omgee, en vir die liefde wat julle aan Mossie betoon. Ek is gerus dat sy in goeie hande is en daarom kan sy tereg die NSRI, Stasie 15, Mosselbaai, haar ‘familie’ noem.Vriendelike groete Carol Mostert (Mossie se Ma), Mosselbaai

SEA RESCUE > AUTUMN 2009 05

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SISTERS ARE DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, FOR OTHERS, MAKING THE NSRI AS GENDER PROGRESSIVE AS YOU CAN GET. ANDREW INGRAM SPENT A DAY WITH THE REMARKABLE LADIES FROM STATION 8

THE GIRLS FROM

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SEA RESCUE > AUTUMN 2009 13

NSRI REGIONAL EXERCISE OFF WILDERNESS BEACHAs the de facto emergency response organisation in aircraft incidents over water, the NSRI works closely with the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA). Station 23 (Wilderness), supported by surrounding NSRI stations, works with other emergency response organisations under the leadership of ACSA at George Airport to ensure emergency response in the unlikely event of an accident involving an aircraft.

George locals may recall the simulated aircraft crash exercise at George Dam organised by ACSA last year. Following that exercise, the response plan was further fine-tuned and all responsible organisations briefed to be ready at all times to respond in an emergency.

All the NSRI stations likely to respond to an aircraft accident over water in George Airport’s flightpaths gathered at Station 23 (Wilderness) to take part in a training exercise. This involved coordinated search and rescues, with a marked crash site and the retrieval of 26 dummies from the sea and surf. In all, over 50 crew, manning nine NSRI rescue vessels and beach-based rescue vehicles and including rescue swimmers took part in the training exercise. Still Bay, Mossel Bay, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay and Wilderness NSRI stations were all represented.The exercise went very well with all dummies found and rescued. Similar exercises will continue to be held on an ongoing basis in order to ensure the emergency responsiveness around our airports. This is particularly relevant as air-traffic volumes are expected to increase during 2010.

SURVEY FEEDBACKThank you for your feedback to the language survey and request for names featured with our last issue – 98% of those who replied said that they were happy to receive Sea Rescue in English – many said that a few articles in Afrikaans would be much appreciated. We received two responses from Xhosa-speaking donors and one response from a Zulu-speaking donor, all three of whom said they preferred to receive the magazine in English.

Many of our readers sent in names of friends who might be interested in receiving the magazine and 157 of those referrals signed up for a one-year subscription.

PRETORIA SAILING CLUB REGATTAThe annual Pretoria Sailing Club Regatta in aid of Sea Rescue was held on 24-25 January at the Rietvlei Dam near Pretoria. A special word of thanks goes to Club Commodore Doreen Hughes, Anne English (secretary) and their team for their wonderful efforts to support NSRI.

VOLUNTEERS AT EVERY TURN We ran a little advert in the local paper to see if anyone would like to volunteer to answer the head office phones from 3-5pm. We were overwhelmed by 20 replies and now have six ladies who volunteer their time one day a week. Welcome and thank you to Heather, Henrietta, Cynthia and Maria.

CLUB 34 CHRISTMAS CARD KIOSKSWe would like to thank all our members who ordered Christmas cards, as well as those who supported the kiosks selling the cards. And a very special thank you to all the volunteers who assisted at the kiosks. To Arthur Bales and staff members in Linden, Johannesburg – we are grateful for the continued support received in the sale of our cards at the Haberdashery Shop. Sales in the Gauteng area amounted to R33 113.

NEWS & EVENTS

Joint training exercise in the southern Cape

RENEWAL OF ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONA very big thank you to all our members who responded to

our special appeal to renew membership subscriptions. Why not subscribe a friend/family member or colleague as a new

member in lieu of a birthday gift? It will cost you R100 per year.

Jos Baker is a class act. Tall and slim with her long strawberry-blonde hair piled in a loose chignon on top of her head, she looks every bit the aristocratic Edwardian. Her voice is a lilting high register of well-rounded vowels. ‘I’m living in the new wing at the moment because of the moles,’ she says. ‘It was built in 1820.’ Burrowing moles – one audaciously emerged from beneath her kitchen table while she was drinking morning coffee – may be a minor hazard of living in a 300-year-old house with peach-pip cow dung floors, but it’s not the only one. She believes it once housed a restless spirit… And then there are the very present-day ladies of the night who park with their male clients metres from the street-side windows. Not even nearly metre-thick walls cut out every sound.

The modern ‘wing’ is on the eastern side of the historic Klein Zoar, a whitewashed thatched-roofed cottage built in 1710 and reputedly once the home of Wolraad Woltemade. If strong circumstantial evidence is to be believed, it was close enough to the water’s edge for the 65-year-old melkboer, Woltemade, to ride his horse into the cold and turbulent waters of the bay to rescue several sailors from the sinking ship, De Jonge Thomas. On the seventh attempt, horse and man were lost, submerged by the weight of men desperate to survive.

The house that Jos and her late husband, David, bought on auction in 1984 was also desperately in need of saving. Although the couple lived in a modern, comfortable home in the suburb of Marina da Gama, when the gavel fell that day, they became the custodians of a dramatic sliver of Cape history and a house rather lean on mod cons. It proudly boasted a sitzbad, shin-high electrical plugs and centipedes that jammed the door locks. Anyone over 5’5’’ would need to duck through the doorways.

Surrounded by a working-class suburb and cut off from the sea by the canalisation of the mid-1950s, the white walls and dense thatch clung bravely to another era. Originally Yzer Plaat, the suburb was renamed Brooklyn after World War II. The house that once had the vlei and sea metres from its stoep and an uninterrupted view of Table Mountain, had slowly been encircled by industria and urban sprawl.

Still, it had charm and, for David and Jos, an inexpli-cable magnetism. It may have been more than just gut feel that they were the right owners. After they moved in, the house alarm would go off at 2am every Sunday. They checked it several times but nothing seemed amiss. Finally, in exasperation, Jos tried a different tack. ‘I woke up one day and (addressing Wolraad) asked gently, “Please would you not ride your horse in the house”.’ And it stopped. ‘Of course,’ recalls Jos, ‘David scoffed at the very idea of a “presence”.’ But the alarm was silent from that day on.

There’s no doubt that the house has personality. ‘It comforts you and seems to watch over you,’ says Jos. She moves furniture around, but it seems that the choice

18 SEA RESCUE > AUTUMN 2009

WRITER AND FOOD CRITIC JOS BAKER HAS BEQUEATHED HER 300-YEAR-OLD COTTAGE, REPUTEDLY ONCE THE HOME OF 18TH CENTURY MARITIME HERO WOLRAAD WOLTEMADE, TO THE NSRI. HER BEQUEST WILL BRING THE STORY FULL CIRCLE. BY LES AUPIAIS

PIECE OF HISTORY

LADY OFTHE HOUSE

20 SEA RESCUE > AUTUMN 2009

Quick question: what is the most dangerous marine animal? Most likely answers will include sharks, stingrays or sea snakes. In fact, a small transparent animal with a body no larger than a man’s palm is responsible for around 50 human deaths annually. This is the Australian sea wasp or box jelly, and its sting is so toxic that it can kill a grown man in three minutes.

The local box jelly, which floats elegantly between northern Namibia and Port Elizabeth, looks very similar. Luckily however, although its sting can be painful, it doesn’t kill humans.

Jellies are the most common open-ocean animals, but despite this, they remain mysterious. In most species, it’s not known how long they live, how large they grow, or whether they reproduce seasonally.

They belong to a group known as the cnidarians (from the Greek word cnidos, meaning nettle), which includes such diverse creatures as anemones, hard corals, sea fans and bluebottles. All cnidarians are armed with highly effective stinging cells, called nematocysts, which are

usually venomous and laden with barbs. They are fluid-filled capsules on the body surfaces, which contain a long coiled tube and are connected to a triggering mechanism. When prey or predators are present, a combination of chemical and mechanical cues stimulate the nematocyst to fire. First, pressure in the nematocyst chamber increases. The pressure increase is both swift (in milliseconds or a few seconds) and substantial (pressures of 140 bars have been recorded). It causes the coiled-up tube to turn inside out, like a sock, erupting from the surface of the nematocyst, and forcing its venomous barb into the victim’s skin.

Jellies are almost all carnivorous, and use their nematocyst-studded tentacles to spear and entangle live prey, such as fish, crustaceans or zooplankton. The size of their prey depends on the size of the jelly’s mouth. One group, the root-mouthed jellies, have convoluted frills that hang below their bodies and are in fact an extension of their mouths. The frills have many narrow ducts opening through them, which act like tiny sucking mouths that hold and digest prey externally before

BEAUTIFUL, MYSTERIOUS AND DANGEROUS, JELLYFISH – WITH THEIR GHOST-LIKE APPEARANCE – ARE AMONG THE MOST EXQUISITE OF THE OCEAN’S VISUAL OFFERINGS. NATURALIST AND DIVER GEORGINA JONES TELLS US MORE

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SEA RESCUE > AUTUMN 2009 33

MISSING TEENAGERSAt 20h45 on 4 October, two teenage boys aged 14 and 15 were reported missing on Langebaan Lagoon after launching a skeevy boat with a 15HP outboard engine. According to the families of the two boys, they were meant to launch the boat in front of Perlies Restaurant and bring it to the Langebaan Yacht Club, but they failed to arrive. The parents reported that since they were moving the boat a short distance, all safety equipment had been removed – they had no communications device, torch, flares, whistles or life jackets. Crew members of the private boat Tropico reported they had seen a small boat fitting the description, which appeared to be adrift. But by the time Tropico could turn around, it had disappeared in the 24-knot winds.

Station 4 (Mykonos) launched a full-scale search assisted by Langebaan Reconnaissance Unit military personnel and the SAPS.

The military personnel located the boat with both teenagers on board between Schaapen Island and their Reconnaissance base.

The youngsters, who were not injured, were reunited with their families. They confirmed that their outboard engine had failed and they were swept across the lagoon by the wind. They drifted for about half a kilometre before being found.

SURFERS TO THE RESCUEOn 1 December, in the late afternoon, Station 18 (Melkbosstrand) was called to assist two teenage boys, aged 13 and 14, trapped in the surfline on an inflatable dinghy and being battered by waves and at risk of being swept out to sea.

As the rescue craft was being launched, both youngsters were brought to shore by an unidentified group of surfers.

REFUELLED AND READY TO GOOn the morning of 28 December, Station 14 (Plettenberg Bay) went to assist a Trans-Agulhas race boat reported to have overshot the Nature’s Valley turning point and was out of fuel 20nm further up the coast.

There was no easy way to reach the craft by road and a rescue boat would take too long to cover the equivalent of 76km. Our ever-resourceful station commander Ray Farnham arranged for a private helicopter to fly to the men, hoist their fuel tank into the helicopter, fly to a roadside service station, fill up the fuel tank and return the fuel tank to the men using the same helicopter. Once the boat was refuelled, the 19-year-old skipper from Port Elizabeth and his crewman motored into Storms River Mouth, where they were recovered.

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condition. The tug then returned to attempt to reconnect towlines to the barges, which were just off the St Lucia coast. The barges were cement carriers, but empty at the time.

ALL IN A DAY’S WORK FOR STATION 7On the morning of 26 December, Station 7 (East London) responded to Cove Rock to assist an angler who had fallen and was reported to be injured.

On his way to the incident, station commander Geoff McGregor said that while responding to the scene, he passed the Hickmans River beach and stopped to assist four people who had been swept out to sea in strong rip currents.

Geoff rescued a 23-year-old man from the shallow water. A further two males were already washed up on the beach, both of whom were not breathing.

Then, knowing there was a large emergency team responding to the Cove Rock incident, and feeling certain they would come across the Hickmans River beach incident within minutes, Geoff took a calculated risk and swam out after a 19-year-old girl, who was about 200m offshore, in an effort to rescue her.

A group of at least 15 friends were on the beach, reportedly all from Butterworth. Fortunately, one of the group was a student nurse and she began resuscitation efforts on the three men.

But, the two brothers who were washed up were declared dead on the scene and the third brother that Geoff rescued and the female friend were transported to hospital in stable but serious conditions.

Geoff was awarded the NSRI Directors’ Thanks for his lifesaving efforts that day.

In the meantime, the angler who fell at Cove Rock was transported to hospital in a serious but stable condition, and is suspected to have suffered paralysis from the waist down after falling approximately 20m onto rocks while angling.

Shortly thereafter, the Metro Ambulance and Rescue Services responded to the Kei River mouth where a ski boat was reported to have capsized with three people on board.

Andrew Keil, a Station 7 (East London) volunteer, who was on holiday at the Kei River mouth, said that a jet-skier had gone to assist after a ski boat capsized in the Kei River mouth with a father (45) his son (15) and daughter (13), from Weltevreden Park in Johannesburg on board.

Andrew said that the ski boat had appeared to be experiencing some engine trouble as it exited the mouth and the skipper had tried to bring the boat back in through the mouth when it was broadsided and capsized.

All the crew on board the casualty boat were wearing life jackets. The jet-skier had immediately launched his jet ski and towed the two youngsters to shore with both of them holding onto the jet ski.

He then returned with Andrew to assist the father who had been too exhausted to hold on to the jet ski. The man was barely conscious when they reached him. Andrew got into the water, and with one hand holding onto the jet ski and the other holding the father, they brought him to shore where a Port Elizabeth surgeon, on holiday at Kei Mouth, assisted to stabilise the patient until the paramedics arrived.

The father was transported to hospital by a Metro ambulance and was later released following treatment for near-drowning symptoms.

Without doubt, the life jacket saved the father’s life.

ANIA TOWED TO SAFETYAt 04h00 on 31 December, Station 11 (Port Alfred) was activated following an emergency distress call, intercepted by Maritime Radio Services, from the 8.5m Polish yacht Ania, reportedly dragging anchor and drifting ashore at Kenton-on-Sea with two young women from Poland on board.

The deep-sea rescue craft Kowie Rescuer and the 5.5m RIB Arthur Scales were launched. Coxswain Koos Smith brought Kowie Rescuer into the surfline in between wave sets, turning the rescue craft around to face the incoming sets and positioning it alongside the casualty yacht. A towline was passed with the assistance of NSRI rescue swimmers Juan Pretorius and Neil Burger, who arrived on board Arthur Scales. They clambered onto Ania, and tied the towrope around the mast. Once secured, Kowie Rescuer managed to motor back out through the surf. The anchor continued to drag, which held both the rescue craft and the casualty yacht back in the surfline to face another barrage of waves breaking over the craft while Koos attempted to drag the yacht out through the surf.

Fortunately the weak link on the anchor chain broke and they managed to tow the yacht out of the surfline through the breaking swells and into deeper, calmer waters where an assessment revealed the yacht was taking water.

It appeared that the keel of the casualty yacht had caved into the main hull and that water was coming in through cracks around the keel. Juan Pretorius remained on board the yacht while a water pump was rigged, and then Kowie Rescuer towed the yacht 32nm towards Port Elizabeth, where they were met by Station 6’s (Port Elizbeth) 10m deep-sea rescue craft Spirit of Toft, which took over the tow just east of Bird Island.

The yacht was sailing from Durban to Cape Town on what was apparently a single-handed race.

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RESCUE REPORTS

Garmin GPSMAP 4008

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Saving lives

The GPSMAP 4008: the power of networking meets the brilliance ofgreat design. The big, bright, easy to use multifunction 8.4” displaycombines video-quality resolution and luminous colour with the latestin sensor and data options to serve as your all-in-one “nerve center”for the Garmin Marine Network. An optional Bluechart g2 Vision cardprovides 3D-view mapping (both above and below the waterline) fornavigating tricky harbours, channels, marinas and other points ofinterest.

After all if the Garmin 4008 is good enough for the NSRI, surely it’sgood enough for you.

I can save a life!What can you do?

Not all heroes have fancy names and multi-coloured robes. The Waterwise campaign is an NSRI programme that educates children about the importance of water safety. It also empowers them with the life saving skill of CPR. With 61% of drowning cases happening at dams, lakes and the sea, this initiative trains kids and fishermen to react to these situations. Minimizing the number of deaths and giving rise to a whole new generation of heroes.

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