Only minutes after a rescue operation at Shelly Beach in the early hours of Friday morning, NSRI Shelly Beach was activated to help the local boat Sasume which was suffering steering failure off-shore of Shelly Beach with eight crew on board.
Arrangements were made with charter boats to bring the eight crew to shore, said Antoinette le Roux, NSRI Shelly Beach deputy station commander.
She said one of the local boats assisting, C Freaks, took five persons off Sasume and the remaining three were taken off by the local boat Must Byt.
“During this crew transfer C Freaks suffered a broken motor propellor and NSRI Shelly Beach were tasked to assist to bring a new motor propellor out to the boat,” said Le Roux.
The sea rescue craft Shelly Spirit was launched and a new motor propellor was delivered and two women - two of the five crew who had been taken off Sasume by C Freaks - were brought back to the beach on the sea rescue craft.
Le Roux said, however, that there was another problem and the propellor could not be fitted to C Freaks. Shelly Spirit launched again to deliver a second propellor.
“In a very low Spring Tide there was not enough water in the bay to perform a tow and local boats assisted and removed the remaining three crew from C Freaks. C Freaks, with her skipper and an NSRI rescue swimmer who had been transferred on to the vessel, then motored ashore on her own power, with the second motor propellor fitted, without any further assistance.”
Sasume, with her skipper onboard, remained off the breaker line until high tide allowed sufficient water along the shoreline for a tow effort.
Le Roux said NSRI Port Edward had dispatched additional crew to help with the operation.