The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) crew came to the rescue of a woman who injured her kneecap on the Robberg Nature Reserve trail in Plettenberg Bay in the Western Cape on Saturday.

Ross Badenhorst, NSRI Plettenberg Bay deputy station commander, said at around noon on Saturday, the NSRI responded to a request for help from a group of day hikers at The Point on the Robberg Nature Reserve trail.

The group, from Port Elizabeth, reported that a woman had a suspected fractured or strained kneecap.

"Her husband, a doctor, had initiated medical treatment and confirmed that she would not be able to hike any further and medical evacuation assistance was required," Badenhorst said.

He said the NSRI dispatched its sea rescue craft Leonard Smith and Free Runner.

"On arrival on the scene we put our NSRI rescue swimmers ashore and they secured the patient into our floating stretcher and in between wave sets our rescue swimmers swam her through the surf. They then loaded her onto the sea rescue craft and we transported her to our sea rescue station where she was collected by a family friend who is also a doctor," Badenhorst said.