The sailing yacht Katouska, which was reported missing, has been found safe offshore of the Port of East London, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) confirmed on Friday evening.
NSRI spokesperson Craig Lambinon said the yacht and its two crew members were escorted and assisted by NSRI East London from deep sea during the afternoon.
Though conditions were not favourable for them to enter the harbour, Lambinon said the priority was that the crew were safe.
“It appears that they have opted to stay offshore overnight and may come into port in the morning,” he said.
On Friday morning, the NSRI said extensive offshore search operations were ongoing for two sailors — German citizens, one with dual American citizenship — between East London and Gqeberha.
The two men, aboard the 42-foot blue and black sailing vessel, sent a mayday distress signal in the early hours of Thursday.
They were heading to East London from their last port of call in Mauritius.
The Ocean Sailing Association of SA confirmed that the two sailors’ intention was to head towards East London.
“Their mayday distress call was intercepted by Telkom Maritime Radio Services,” Lambinon said on Friday morning.
“They indicated to NSRI EOC [Emergency Operations Centre] and MRCC [Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre] that they were taking on water and in distress.”
A rescue operation was activated from NSRI East London when the two sailors indicated that they had stemmed the ingress of water and were rigging sails in efforts to get to the Port of East London.
“As a precaution, NSRI East London launched the NSRI rescue craft Spirit of Lotto to meet them [they were believed to be, at that stage, about 20 nautical miles offshore of Kei Mouth in the Eastern Cape] to escort them to East London, when at daybreak on Thursday morning all communications [with them] were lost,” Lambinon said.
An extensive search operation, co-ordinated by the MRCC, assisted by NSRI East London, its rescue craft, emergency centre and coast watchers, as well as Telkom Maritime Radio Services, and multiple vessels at sea in the area, had continued since Thursday, though hampered by storm-driven 8m swells.
NSRI Port Alfred, NSRI Gqeberha and private fixed wing aircraft joined in the search on Friday.
Daily Dispatch