Scots banker is swept to death in South Africa
A SCOTS banker has died after his kayak was washed out to sea in high winds off the coast of South Africa.
Rod Johnston had gone out for a paddle on the borrowed craft at popular tourist beach Camps Bay, near Cape Town, where he had a holiday home.
The married 46-year-old, a novice kayaker, set off in calm conditions – but the weather suddenly changed for the worse as he got further from shore.
It is believed Mr Johnston was swept from the ‘surfski’ kayak into the heavy seas.
The father-of-one, from Dundee, had borrowed the lightweight advanced surfski – designed for speed and agility on open water – from a friend.
When Mr Johnston failed to keep an early-evening appointment, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) launched three lifeboats to try to find him.
A spokesman for the NSRI said: ‘We carried out an extensive search between Oudekraal and Table Bay and we left no stone unturned to find the man.’
Crews searched until midnight then resumed at first light. Mr Johnston’s kayak was finally spotted five miles out to sea shortly after dawn.
His body was discovered attached to the open-decked craft by a safety line, reportedly still wearing his lifejacket.
Mr Johnston’s wife Debbie, 50, was last night flying back to the family home in Johannesburg after identifying his remains in a Cape Town mortuary.
Mrs Johnston said: ‘Whatever happened is something Rod takes to the grave with him. It was an advanced surfski which is narrow and light and only meant for advanced paddlers – but unfortunately the weather changed and the seas got very big.
‘It would seem he was swept out to sea and the NSRI told me that he most likely capsized and lost his paddle – and if you are not an advanced paddler then you are in big trouble. As a novice they said it would be almost impossible to get back in the surfski.
‘They suspect Rod drowned or died of hypothermia. He was a fit man and ran every day and played squash four days a week.
‘He was a strong man, so he would have kept on fighting for sure until the very end.’
The couple met at work in South Africa and were together for 20 years before marrying ten years ago at the Johannesburg Country Club. They have a son Dean, 24.
Mr Johnston graduated with a BA (Hons) in business studies in Dundee in 1996 before moving to be with his father Gordon, mother
Denetta and two sisters in South Africa. He was based in Johannesburg as a senior executive with Absa bank and was said to be one of South Africa’s most respected bankers.
Mrs Johnston said: ‘I had 30 wonderful years with Rod.
‘Despite being at the top of the ladder he had time for everyone who worked for him. Dean and I are just devastated.’
A South African Police Service spokesman said there were no suspicious circumstances.