MARC MAY, NSRI St Francis Bay station commander, said; “At 12h30 on Saturday 3 December, NSRI St Francis Bay volunteer sea rescue duty crew were activated following a request for assistance from the 40 foot mono hull yacht SONNE AZUL, from Holland, reporting loss of rudder steering and requiring assistance 20 nautical miles off-shore of Tsitsikamma, 25 nautical miles from our sea rescue base, with 2 Dutch Nationals onboard, skipper Onno Verver, (aged approximately 45) and his female crew companion.
“Our NSRI volunteer sea rescue duty crew launched our sea rescue craft SPIRIT OF ST FRANCIS II and on arrival on-scene, in fair sea and weather conditions, we found the yacht drifting (in the direction of Australia) and unable to steer or maneuver her way out of her predicament. It was determined that the casualty yachts rudder had jammed in position, unable to be moved, suggesting the yacht may have collided with an object or fishing nets while underway.
“A tow-line was rigged and the long tow back to St Francis Bay began while NSRI Port Elizabeth and NSRI Oyster Bay were placed on alert to assist if necessary.
“The towing progress was particularly difficult because the position in which the casualty boats rudder had jammed caused the direction of the casualty boat to want to head in a different direction to what we were towing her.
“The size of the yacht and the class of our sea rescue craft put the tow effort on the edge of our capabilities particularly because of the jammed rudder.
“Making slow progress we determined that if the weather changed for the worse we may need more help and, as a precautionary measure we also, aided by Maritime Radio Services, broadcast a request for all Chokka fishing boats, in the vicinity between us and our base, to go on high alert to assist us if necessary.
“We admit it was quite a relief to see the many Chokka boats, on our way home, coming over to check on us to make sure we were doing okay and had we needed their help at any point the good relationship we share with the Chokka fishing community would have put us in their good hands.
“After a 5 hour and 30 minute tow we finally arrived at our sea rescue base and our smaller sea rescue craft EIKOS RESCUER I was launched to help corral the yacht safely to a berth in the harbour.”
It has also been confirmed that one of the NSRI rescue crew had his child’s birthday party to attend during the call-out. He had hidden his child’s presents so his household had to wait for the rescue to be complete before the birthday party could commence. One NSRI crewman missed his anniversary dinner because of the call-out. One NSRI crewman missed a family reunion because of the call-out.
We agreed, all in the line of duty, said Marc May, NSRI St Francis Bay station commander.
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