The Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary is made up of dedicated volunteers who respond to any kind of emergency on or near the water. They want the community to help lighten their load by taking boating safety seriously.
May 21 to 27 is Safe Boating Awareness Week and Halfmoon Bay Coast Guard media liaison Angie Nemeth said this year's five key steps to safer boating will help save lives.
The five steps are: wear your lifejacket, don't drink and boat, take a boating course, be prepared, and beware of cold water risks. In order to be prepared, boaters must ensure their boats have all the required safety gear and sufficient fuel. They also need to be aware of the weather and their boat's capabilities before setting sail.
It's also important to understand the 1-10-1 rule for cold water. The rule, as stated on the North American Safe Boating Awareness Week website, says that it takes one minute to go into shock from the cold ocean water, 10 minutes to become incapacitated by the frigid temperatures and one hour until you become unconscious and start to succumb to hypothermia.
Nemeth adds another rule for safe boating.
"You need to let someone know where you're going and when you'll be back," she said, noting many of the calls the local auxiliary units receive are from family members who become concerned when a loved one does not return home when expected. Often no specific return time was given and no one knows where the boater was planning to go. This sometimes causes Coast Guard Auxiliary units to go on a wild goose chase, she adds.
"Often times the guy is just sitting at the pub with some buddies, but every call is treated as if it were an emergency. We never assume anything," Nemeth said.
There are three Coast Guard Auxiliary units serving the Sunshine Coast - Pender Harbour, Halfmoon Bay and Gibsons. Currently Pender Harbour has 23 members, Halfmoon Bay has 18, and Gibsons has 20. All the members are volunteers and spend one to two days a week training in the classroom and on the water to be better equipped to respond to emergencies when they arise.
Coast Guard auxiliary volunteers can be likened to firefighters in that they are on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and they are not paid for their efforts.
Last year Gibsons responded to about 30 calls for service while Halfmoon Bay attended 25 calls and Pender Harbour had 15. Those calls included helping boats in trouble, rescuing stranded boaters and searching for missing persons.
Last year the units' training was put to the test during the Southern Straits Race. Five-metre waves crashed down on boat decks and 56-knot winds blew sailboats about causing the most distress calls ever to be registered in one day. Every emergency responder available came out to help, and the Pender Harbour auxiliary rescued one boater who was tossed overboard.
Pender Harbour coxswain Eliza Kinley said the exciting rescue was the most fun she ever had.
"One of the women on the beach said 'I was going to let my husband join the Coast Guard Auxiliary, but then when I couldn't see your boat anymore and all I could see was the top of the antenna, I said no.'" Kinley recalled.
All three Coast Guard auxiliary units are looking for more volunteers to join their ranks, if they are up to the challenge.
