{"id":274257,"date":"2025-08-21T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/tygerburger\/?p=274257"},"modified":"2026-04-08T10:01:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T08:01:25","slug":"volunteer-spends-her-free-time-saving-lives-at-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/tygerburger\/volunteer-spends-her-free-time-saving-lives-at-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"Volunteer spends her free time saving lives at sea"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Strandfontein
Strandfontein NSRI base station commander Nicky Whitehead coordinates a rescue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The sea rescue station commander at Strandfontein spends her free time saving people from drowning and training rescuers and she does it for free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe volunteers don’t get paid a cent for what they do. We use our own money to get to base. We use our own money to buy food and cooldrink. If it’s a long call out, we drive and we use our own money to get the guys coffee on a cold night. We don’t get paid anything. We do it for the love of serving the community,\u201d Nicky Whitehead said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whitehead, of Gordon\u2019s Bay, was reelected for her second three-year term as the National Sea Institute\u2019s<\/a> (NSRI)<\/a> station commander at Strandfontein base in May this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the role it is her responsibility to manage the station\u2019s assets and volunteers and during rescue operations she is the main point of call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo if anything goes wrong, I’m the one who needs to give the answers,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whitehead earns a living managing factories and started volunteering for the NSRI in 2015, in Langebaan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI grew up in a household where my mom took me to rehabilitation centres and orphanages to volunteer on weekends. When I moved to Langebaan, I was looking for an organisation that I could join to serve the community in a positive way,\u201d Whitehead said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She had no experience of sea rescue prior to becoming a volunteer and she said the process of becoming a volunteer is \u201cactually quite simple\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’ve even had trainees that started who couldn’t swim,\u201d she said, adding that they learned to swim during their training. \u201cYou don’t have to have any experience. You get taught everything you need to know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only requirements for volunteering is being older than 18, having already finished school and having your own vehicle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can’t stand and wait for a taxi if there’s a call out,\u201d she joked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"One
One needs no experience to be a sea rescue volunteer. All training is provided.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery minute counts\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Speed is of the essence during a rescue call out, Whitehead said, which is why volunteers are placed at bases that are no more than 20 minutes away from their homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf there’s a call out, you have to be able to be at the base, launch your vessels, be in the ops room, all of those things, within 20 minutes because if you’re in the water, every minute counts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the job requires a lot of dedication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt takes a lot of commitment. I mean, every Sunday (for training), being away from family, it’s a huge commitment and it’s time that you never get back, but the reward that you get for that is priceless.\u201d Whitehead was moved to tears when she recalled one particularly rewarding rescue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the rescues we did was on Boxing Day. There was a whole group of children that were taken out by a rip current at Sonwabe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The beach, which is along the False Bay Coastline, near Strandfontein, is a “no-swimming\u201d beach, Whitehead said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople are not supposed to be swimming at Sonwabe but in December, the pavilion and all the other beaches are so full and it\u2019s just easy for the people to stop next to the road at Sonwabe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rescuers were able to get most of the children out of the water, except for one little girl who was about eight years old, Whitehead said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was one girl that came out and she was non-responsive. So we started CPR on the beach and as we started CPR, I could see her eyes rolling back and I decided: \u2018No, not today!\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whitehead said, breaking down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe brought her back,\u201d she said with relief. \u201cShe made it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why education about water safety is so important, Whitehead said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’ve got a whole department at head office that falls under drowning prevention and they have a whole group of people that go to schools in the areas, all over Cape Town,\u201d she said. \u201cThey explain to the kids what the current is and how you notice them and why you don’t go into the water when it looks like that. So we are actively trying to educate the kids around water safety.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n