Nipper blown out to sea

A teenage trainee surf lifeguard has been rescued after setting out from Milnerton beach on a paddle-ski during routine training and getting into trouble in a strong south-easter, gusting to 60-knots, and a two-metre swell.

Milnerton Surf Lifesaving Club lifeguards on the beach raised the alarm and the club's rubber duck was sent to help Kevin Lemner, 17, while the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) and Metro Rescue were alerted.

Kevin, a nipper, was found struggling in the surf line 10 metres off Sunset Beach, while his paddle-ski had been blown several hundred metres out to sea by the wind, said Paul Teuchert, SA Lifesaving's chairperson of the Milnerton Surf Lifesaving Club.

The teenager was severely hypothermic and had swallowed a large quantity of water.

"We assisted him out of the water and immediately began treatment for severe hypothermia and secondary drowning," Teuchert said.

Emergency rescue paramedics arrived on the scene minutes later and also treated Kevin before taking him to the Milnerton Medi-Clinic. Kevin was said to be in a stable condition.

Teuchert said the wind had blown the teenager rapidly out to sea after he set out from the beach during training early on Tuesday evening, but the club's shore crew had realised he was in trouble.
The rescue crew had spotted the paddle-ski before they found the nipper.

Cape Town Port Control had called the NSRI's Bakoven and Melkbosstrand rescue teams, but they were told soon after that Kevin had been rescued, NSRI spokesperson Craig Lambinon said.