It is suspected that the Silver Girl yacht skipper fell overboard. It happened when the yacht was stroked by a wave off-shore of Quoin Point, and it was between the Gansbaai and Agulhas. Melvin Rautenbach, the skipper fell overboard in Mossel Bay and from that time she is missing. The incident has been reported by the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI). On Thursday, during a race, the skipper fell overboard and after that, she was not seen anywhere.
Sharing the detail of the race and the incident, he said the Silver Girl yacht took part in the Mossel Bay yacht race and it was sailing wonderfully from Simonstown to Mossel Bay. Them a distress call was made in which crew said the skipper had fallen overboard. It happened when the yacht was struck by a wave off-shore of Quoin Point. It was the 10 nautical miles off-shore.
“After the incident, the Telkom Maritime Radio Services forwarded the Mayday distress called all the vessels in the area on alert. In addition, the TNPA (Transnet National Ports Authority) and MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre) were also alerted,” said Langenhoven.
He said “The rescue craft of the NSRI Hermanus South Star and the NSRI Agulhas sea rescue craft Spirit of Agulhas has been launched for the extensive search for the missing sailor. But, the barrier in the search process is rough sea conditions. It has the 25 knots West North Westerly winds and it will continue till the early hours of Friday.”