Sechelt business owner Reece Taylor and two other first responders helped rescue a panicking swimmer dragged out to sea by the current in Trail Bay on the night of Thursday, June 18.
“Most impressive to me was the bravery of the man who refused to give up on saving his friend,” Taylor said. “Seeing him swim undaunted through that cold, choppy water is an act of selfless heroism that I will never forget.”
Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue (RCM-SAR) responded in time, but Station 12 unit leader Mark Wenn said it could have been a different story without the help of the civilians who got there first.
“With the aid of the public, we ended up getting the guy back on our vessel and then back to the BC Ambulance Service as quickly as we could,” Wenn said.
RCM-SAR was conducting a training exercise near Trail Bay when the mayday call came in from Comox Coast Guard at about 9:15 p.m.
Taylor, who owns Salty’s Adventure Sports and has access to kayaks, received a call from his wife about a man getting pulled out to sea by the current. He threw a kayak onto his car and got to the scene in five minutes.
“By the time I arrived, the man in distress was two to three hundred metres offshore and struggling to tread water,” Taylor said.
A friend of the man in distress was attempting to swim out with a life jacket. Taylor picked up the life jacket and got it to the swimmer in distress. Taylor told him to hold onto the kayak for support while they waited for RCM-SAR.
Taylor also got to the man’s friend and both men in the water held onto the kayak.
Another man in a rowboat came out to assist, as well as a passing commercial vessel.
“This was a combined effort, we just happened to be in the right place at the right time,” Wenn said. “Without these other guys there – without this kayak for this gentleman to hold onto – things might have been different.”
The two men in the water were brought onboard the RCM-SAR vessel Ken Moore. Both were handed over to RCMP and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) on the Sechelt dock. EMS brought the priority patient to hospital 15 minutes after initial response by RCM-SAR.
The man in distress was in the water for about 30 minutes, by Taylor’s estimation.
“He was extremely cold to the touch and exhibiting clear signs of hypothermia,” Taylor said.
According to Wenn, hypothermia should never be discounted as a danger, even in the summer. The temperature of the water right now is about 9 C, which is cold enough to cause hypothermia, depending on many factors including body fat and duration of exposure.
Wenn said one of the best sources of information on hypothermia comes from University of Manitoba professor Gordon Giesbrecht – more commonly known as Dr. Popsicle. See online at www.coldwaterbootcamp.com
Dr. Popsicle has a one-10-one rule of thumb for hypothermia. At one minute in cold water, a person experiences cold shock and begins hyperventilating. At 10 minutes, cold incapacitation occurs and the person loses control over muscles, starting in the extremities. At roughly one hour, a person is likely to lose consciousness due to hypothermia.
RCM-SAR Station 12 is based out of Secret Cove.
