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N Tony Weaver’s Victorian house in Little Mowbray, with a wraparound stoep and views of Table Mountain through the kitchen window, he says, “I love weather. I love bad weather — obviously not if I’m caught in it — but I sit here watching the weather come over the mountain. It’s so elemental.”

In his study, I chat with Weaver about Into a Raging Sea: Great South African Rescues, a collection of stories he’s gathered and written, with Andrew Ingram, to mark the 50th anniversary of the National Sea Rescue Institute.

This book was made for Weaver, who has a reputation as a veteran journalist and adventurer.

He says, “The sea has always been part of my life. It’s why I love living in Cape Town. Of course I’m a huge admirer of the NSRI. And I’ve been rescued myself, not at sea but from the Witels gorge near Ceres after a group of us were caught in a flash flood. We were choppered out after being trapped for two days.

“In general, as far as ocean rescue goes, the waters off South Africa are some of the most dangerous of the world. A deep continental shelf close to land causes currents and rip tides. It’s why surfers come up with fearsome names for waves … the ‘washing machine’ off Kommetjie; the ‘Dungeons’ off Duiker Island. The Miroshga capsized in very rough seas just off Dungeons…”

Weaver is referring to the 2012 disaster in which trapped tourists were rescued by the NSRI from under the Hout Bay-based whalewatching charter boat. Tragically, two people died in this incident.

When Ingram, media manager for the NSRI, first approached Weaver to do the book, Weaver said, “Let’s tell short stories. Let’s make this a great holiday read but also a book that really gets the message across.”

The stories underscore the vital role of the rescue organisation.