Cape Town - When Rian Leisegang came stumbling out of the ocean at the Miller’s Point Caravan Park calling for help, he gave a family camping there a fright.
“I was vomiting because of all the water I had swallowed. I think they thought I was a drunken poacher,” he said on Wednesday.
The 41-year-old Fish Hoek resident, who works in the ship repair industry, had to swim to shore after being knocked out of his surfski by a huge wave on Tuesday evening. He arrived onshore more than an hour later in a serious state of hypothermia.
Leisegang, who has been sailing most of his life in False Bay, set off with his brother-in-law and paddling partner Anthony Montagu-Fryer at 4.45pm on Tuesday from Fish Hoek heading to Simon’s Town.
They had safety gear and had checked the weather conditions. But Leisegang was broadsided by a big wave that knocked him out of his surfski. He managed to get back in. “Then I got knocked out again and my leash parted from my ski, which was swept away. I knew I had to get to shore.”
Meanwhile, Montagu-Fryer had alerted Leisegang’s wife, Paula, who had been waiting at Miller’s Point for the two to arrive, that he had lost sight of Rian during a squall about a nautical mile offshore.
She notified sea rescue and her father, Tony Coon, and rescue boats were launched.
Leisegang said: “It was getting dark and I could see the lights from the rescue boats. I thought of swimming to them, but I would have ended up in the middle of the bay and they might not have seen me.”
Instead, he swam holding onto his paddle for the first 45 minutes, but dumped it when it was affecting his progress and swam for another 20 to 25 minutes to shore.
“I was confident I would make it but it was a surreal experience. I remember thinking if I die now at least I’m doing something I love.”
His relieved wife Paula said she knew her husband would “pop up” somewhere. “He has that survival instinct. It was just a case of when and where,” she said.
Leisegang was treated for hypothermia, but the experience hasn’t put him off.
“The ocean has to be enjoyed. We’re safer out there than on our roads.”
Cape Argus