Two southern Cape fishermen spent hours perched on the hull of their capsized skiboat at the weekend while a large shark circled them, the National Sea Rescue Institute said on Sunday.

Skipper Daan Thomas (65) and his crewman Hannes Le Roux (62) both of Mossel Bay, set off their last flare in the hope of attracting attention of a boat — which turned out to be an NSRI vessel searching for them.

NSRI Mossel Bay duty coxswain Andre Fraser said a volunteer duty crew was activated just after 6pm on Saturday following reports from two eye-witnesses of a red distress flare offshore about halfway between Mossel Bay and Glentana.

Despite no reports of anyone overdue or missing at sea they launched their rescue craft, the Vodacom Rescuer, and began searching the area.

While they were searching, it emerged that the 20-foot skiboat the Rossi was overdue after what was supposed to be a day-long fishing trip.

Around 9pm the rescue crew sighted a hand-held red distress flare and found the two men clinging to the upturned hull of their capsized boat.

"Both men were taken aboard our rescue craft and were found to be in good spirits," Fraser said.

They were treated for mild hypothermia but required no other medical assistance.

He said the men told their rescuers they were capsized by a wave just before 3pm about four nautical miles off the Great Brak River mouth.

They had clung to the upturned hull of their boat, perched on a section the size of a small office desk, which stuck out of the water despite waves crashing over them.

"They had six 1000 foot parachute red distress flares and two handheld red distress flares and each time they saw a boat pass relatively nearby they set off a 1000 foot parachute red distress flare, one of which failed to deploy.

"It has now been determined that only the fifth, and their last, 1000 foot parachute red distress flare was the one that was sighted by the two eyewitnesses."

Two distress flares left

It was now well after dark, and the men had only two hand-held red distress flares left.

Around 8pm they set off one in the hope it would be sighted from land, but no one saw it.

An hour later they saw a boat with a searchlight in the area, and set off the last flare.

The boat was the NSRI's rescue craft.

"Daan said that after they had capsized, the fish and their bait, from inside their boat, spilled into the ocean," Fraser said.

"Almost immediately a large shark, believed to be a White Shark, began circling their boat.

"Daan said that before the shark came too close he had made a desperate effort to dive under the boat and had managed to recover their emergency capsize kit.

"Because of the presence of the shark they had remained perched on the hull despite waves crashing over them.

"On four further occasions, Daan said, he had dived under the boat, despite the presence of the shark, to retrieve survival gear."

"Both men have expressed their deepest gratitude to the NSRI Mossel Bay volunteer duty crew."

The NSRI towed the boat back to Mossel Bay.

Join our Facebook fan page Follow us on Twitter

Sapa

RSS
Digg
de.li.cious
facebook
It's JZ, leave a message... Jacob Zuma "Hi, this is Zuma. You know what to do. No, no... not the machine gun. Leave a message..."
Finding love in Zululand Mnqobokazi Susan Pletts ventures into Zululand and discovers that SA's hidden treasures are its people.
Visit our politics page Jacob Zuma supporters Need the latest political news, features, interviews and profiles? Visit our dedicated page...