A novice surfer went home after a scary experience near Noordhoek without realising that the NSRI was looking for him.
|||Cape Town - A surfer the NSRI looked for but couldn’t find on Sunday night is safe.
Identified by the NSRI only as Hayden from Kommetjie, the man called the institute’s Kommetjie commander, Tom Coetzee, on Tuesday after he read an online report of Sunday’s search and realised it was him, NSRI spokesman Craig Lambinon said on Wednesday.
“Hayden confirmed he had been in trouble. A novice surfer, he was struggling in the big surf conditions when other surfers left the water at dusk and as night fell he found himself swept across shore and further out to sea in rip currents,” Lambinon said.
He said Hayden was swept towards Noordhoek and managed to get ashore about 1.6km away. “He went home not knowing concerned witnesses had raised the alarm.”
Coetzee said according to information from Hayden, they realised they were closely behind him during Sunday’s sea and shore search. “Knowing the currents in those rough sea swells our initial reaction was to immediately dispatch our Discovery quad bike to the area where Hayden came out of the water. With hindsight this shows we were hot on his heels. We must have missed him by only minutes.”
He said after Hayden was not found, Sunday’s search was extended to Slangkop lighthouse, Noordhoek, Chapman’s Peak and Vulcan Rock near Duiker Island.
“When we failed to find Hayden… it became our greatest conviction he had managed to get out of the water and most likely gone home not realising a search had been launched,” Coetzee said. “No harm has been done, we are happy he is safe.”
Efforts to trace Hayden drew a blank on Wednesday. Lambinon said they knew Hayden was from Kommetjie, but they did not have his details.
Cape Argus
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