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The National Sea Rescue Institute in Knysna has assisted the crew of a 20-metre yacht, Linschoten, which was sailing from Richards Bay to Cape Town, after it started taking on water off the Southern Cape coast.
NSRI station commander in Knysna, Graeme Harding, said the yacht was listing by the time they reached it on Tuesday and it was towed to Mossel Bay, in co-operation with that town's NSRI station.
The three men and two women on board the yacht were not harmed.
Meanwhile, the NSRI in East London rushed to the aid of a 64-year-old man from Alaska in stormy seas, following a call from Munich in Germany.
NSRI station commander Geoff McGregor says John Gartiez encountered heavy seas and a storm on his solo round-the-world voyage, while he was between Durban and East London.
They were alerted about this on Monday from Munich by his partner, Karen Schroeder, and aircraft crews as well as maritime traffic were asked to be on the look-out for Gartiez's 12-metre yacht, Arctic Turn.
McGregor says they made contact with the lone sailor on Tuesday and rendezvouz'd with him some 100 kilometres from East London.
He did not need any assistance, and was due to dock in the city late on Tuesday night.
