Last Saturday, May 28 members of Unit 14 - Gibsons and Unit 12 - Halfmoon Bay headed over to Horseshoe Bay (joined there by members of Unit 4 - Squamish) to take part in a SAR Ex event, organized and hosted by Unit 1 - Howe Sound.
The Halfmoon Bay team of Jeff Maclean (Cox'n), Mark Zuidema (helm), Angie Nemeth (navigation and communications), and Sarah Park (first aid), were unsure what to expect, as these SAR Ex events are rare and none of the team had participated in one previously; nor were any of the team with Aux 12 the last time our Unit participated in one.
Upon arrival in HSB there was a general debrief for all attendees, and then the "Wave 1" (Gibsons, Halfmoon Bay, Squamish (A) teams) Coxswains were taken aside and each given the preliminary details of their individual "taskings."
The "tasking" of HMB, as given by "exercise radio" (acting as JRCC), was that of a "white 40' commercial vessel with four persons on board taking on water in the vicinity of Smugglers Cove.
The afternoon was marked by the land-based skills and drills portion of the event: a dewatering exercise, chart work as well as one-person, two-person and par buckling retrieval of a victim in the water were next on the agenda.
High words of praise from our team's evaluator, Bruce Falkins, were delivered and repeated to both Cox'n Jeff Maclean and (Cox'n) Mark Coombs, who had come along to act as an evaluator for one of the other teams (Gibsons). In his 25 years of service, he judged Unit 12 skills to be the "model for the foundations of basic skills which are critical to success." Kudos must be given to all of the Cox'ns and senior members of the unit who have worked so tirelessly in bringing along the newer recruits.
"This was an amazing day in which the weather could not have been better, an incredible learning opportunity, camaraderie and "raising the bar" of Unit 12, along with some great ideas being brought back to Halfmoon Bay," said Unit 12 media liaison Drew McKee. "This day was undoubtedly a complete success. Great work team, great work Unit 12. I'm proud to serve and belong."
- Submitted
