What was meant to be a normal fishing expedition for 11-year-old Zachary Truter and his spiritual father, 31-year-old Louis Hauptfleisch, almost turned into disaster when their paddling boat capsized along Vermont, near Hermanus.
The two spoke to the Cape Times yesterday about their harrowing ordeal which occurred when they went fishing on Friday on a family vacation.
While fishing about 1pm, an unexpected wave hit their double sea-kayak.
The rip current hit their kayak and washed them out to sea. They had to swim for 90 minutes before they were spotted by locals.
“Luckily we had life jackets on. When our kayak capsized we kept calm and tried to swim out and it was almost impossible. We tried to swim but the waves were pushing us towards the rocks.
‘‘We realised it wouldn’t help going in that direction. We saw some people and prayed to God that they would see us,” said Hauptfleisch.
He said they had checked the waves before going out, but the rip current and waves picked up while they were out at sea.
“Zach was beginning to panic. I told him we need to stay calm and swim deeper. When the people saw us they immediately called the NSRI. Their offices are quite far, but they were very quick to respond because I think they took about 15 minutes to arrive,” added Hauptfleisch.
“The kayak was washed offshore, the people picked it up and brought it back to us.
"We are grateful for their help and for the help by the NSRI crew as they responded very quickly,” he said.
Paramedics treated Hauptfleisch and Truter for mild hypothermia but otherwise they were fine.
“I am quite okay. I was listening the whole time and I think that really helped.
"My mom was so proud when she saw us, and my friends were like ‘yho!, are you okay after that?’” said Truter.
NSRI Hermanus station commander Deon Langenhoven said the duty crew were activated following eye-witness reports of two people in difficulty on a double sea-kayak .
“Fearing they would be battered against the rocks, when they reached the shoreline we waved them away encouraging them to remain offshore using their life-jackets to stay afloat and not to approach the shoreline and we gestured towards them to show that a rescue craft was on its way.”.