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Wind: yesterday W 15-40 knots, today variable 2-17 knotsSea State: yesterday up to 0.5m chop, today up to 1 m chopVisibility: both days 10-15 NMSky: both days partly cloudyTemperature: both days 4-7 °CAtmospheric CO2: 415.60 ppm (recorded by NOAA at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii) … Continue reading
Race Rocks is an area David Best is becoming all too familiar with.
Rescue society always there to help
Race Rocks is an area David Best is becoming all too familiar with.
A member of the Victoria Marine Rescue Society Station 35, the 31-year-old has been called to the ecological reserve at the east entrance of the Juan de Fuca Strait three times in the last year.
Two of those rescues occurred within the last few months. One turned deadly when 27-year-old British police officer Timothy Chu became separated from his dive master and drowned.
On the afternoon of Nov. 15, Best was at home watching TV when he received another mayday call to respond to Race Rocks. This time nine divers were in the water after their boat was overturned by a ferocious wave.
Best, along with crew members Mike Deigan, Mike Graham and Earle Shirly, jumped into their Titan 400 rescue boat and left Ogden point, arriving at the scene 25 minutes later. Members from station 37 in Sooke also sprang into action.
“You are trying to think ahead as to what you need to have ready the second you show up,” said Best. “You are also thinking, what am I going to see here? Everyone in the boat is thinking the same thing.”
High winds were producing large waves between eight to 10 feet high. The crew arrived to find several people sitting on the haul of the overturned seven-metre aluminum boat. A couple more were in the water, clinging onto the boat’s side.
Standing on the back of The Tolonen, Best and one of his colleagues tossed a throw bag into the water, which releases 50 feet of line for victims to grab and be pulled to safety. The first man pulled in was an older fellow who was plummeted with huge waves crashing over his head. Once on board, the team discovered the man had mild hypothermia.
“He was shaken and cold, obviously. Somewhat in shock I think,” said Best, who estimates the man had been in the water, holding onto the overturned boat for a good hour. “He was pretty sore. He was just thankful that he was able to get on something solid and warm.”
Repeating the drill, station 35 pulled three more people from the frigid water and Sooke rescued another five. Two of the divers (from the CFB Esquimalt-based recreational Aquarius Dive Club) had mild hypothermia and others were left shaken by the ordeal. All but one of the nine people were wearing wet or dry suits.
Due to the heavy currents and strong winds often found at Race Rocks, Best said the area is dangerous to scuba dive. The only people that should be there are those who know what they are doing, but even then things can still go wrong.
Fortunately, the Victoria Marine Rescue Society is there to make sure help is always available to mariners in distress. The team of volunteers dedicate their time providing 24-hour, year-round emergency search and rescue services on the Victoria waterfront, stretching as far west as Sooke and east to Oak Bay. On average, 50 to 60 rescues are conducted every year.
Best has been with the station for a year-and-a-half. Every time he goes out on a rescue, he risks his own life to help save others.
“(It’s) a passion for adventure and a passion to help people,” said Best, who was out on the water training with the team during last week’s big storm.
“It helps me sleep at night knowing that I have a fire department down the street that if I have a fire in my house, they will help rescue my family and myself. I feel that this country and this town has given me more than I can ask for so I try to return the favour whatever way I can.”
The Victoria Marine Rescue Society is always looking for new volunteers and the vast majority of expenses are covered through donations and fundraising events. For more information visit vmrs.org.
Also see Ecoguardians report at https://www.racerocks.ca/9-divers-rescued-after-boat-capsized/
Richard Watts / Times Colonist
November 15, 2015 11:18 PM
Rescue in progress off Race Rocks Sunday afternoon. Photograph By Don Macisaac/Pearson College, Race Rocks
See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/nine-scuba-divers-rescued-in-rough-seas-off-race-rocks-1.2111723#sthash.37bWnQHs.dpuf
UPDATED: Two volunteer rescue crews, one from Victoria and the other from Sooke, improvised a tag-team-style effort to pluck nine stricken scuba divers off a bouncing, capsized boat Sunday afternoon.
Jason van der Valk, coxswain of the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue craft based in Sooke, said his crew started the rescue by throwing a line to the boat capsized near Race Rocks, and pulling first one, then two divers to safety from the water.
The Sooke boat then moved aside while its crew checked out the medical condition of the two rescued divers. Meanwhile, the Victoria boat moved in and repeated the heaving-line rescue for one more diver. Then, it was the Sooke boat’s turn again.
The strategy was repeated until all nine recreational divers had been pulled to safety. They were taken to Pedder Bay Marina, where ambulances and helicopters were waiting. None suffered anything worse than mild hypothermia and seasickness.
Van der Valk said the dual-team rescue had never been rehearsed or tried before. But after countless hours of drills and hard training, rescue crews learn to put together best procedures on the spur of the moment.
“That’s the first time,” he said in a telephone interview. “But just knowing how everybody is going to operate it just went like clockwork.”
All nine rescued divers are members of a recreational diving club called the Aquarius Dive Club, based at CFB Esquimalt. Eight were wearing cold-water drysuits. One person, the boat driver, was without a dive suit.
Sara Helmeczi, acting spokeswoman for CFB Esquimalt, said the Aquarius Club is for service men and women and associated members from the public. It is not a military body.
Helmeczi said when the divers arrived at Race Rocks on Sunday, they decided it was too rough and tried to head elsewhere, but were swamped by waves.
She said four of the nine divers rescued on Sunday are military personnel, so the Canadian Armed Forces will conduct a safety investigation into the incident.
Van der Valk said the first call came in about 2 p.m. on Sunday, saying there were five people in a capsized boat near Race Rocks.
“We didn’t know much detail at first,” said van der Valk. “But they never like to delay, so it was just ‘Go! Go! Go!’ ”
He said Race Rocks, near the eastern entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, is midway between Sooke and Victoria stations, so both responded in their Zodiac-style jet boats, Sooke with a crew of six and Victoria with five.
Van der Valk said the waves were four to six feet high at Race Rocks. When rescuers arrived at the scene, they could see four people in the water clinging to the boat and five sitting on top of the overturned hull. He estimated they had been in the water for 45 minutes to an hour.
“The waves were breaking over the boat and quite frankly I’m amazed they were able to hang on,” said van der Valk. “I’m surprised one of them hadn’t let go or fallen off and drifted away.
“Given the state of the sea, there is no way they could have swum back to the boat.”
Waiting nearby was a whale-watching boat, the Spring Tide, which had temporarily set its passengers on Race Rocks and stood by to help, if needed. A recreational fishing boat was also standing by.
But van der Valk said the two rescue craft have a special low ramp at the stern, making it easy to pull tired people from the water. As jet boats, they also have no propellors to cut feet treading water.
Don Macisaac, eco-guardian of Race Rocks, said his fellow guardian and fiancée, Nina Yousefpour, noticed the dive boat, which was initially upright, while doing chores. The two live full time on Race Rocks.
A short while later, the two saw the overturned boat with people waving, attempting to attract attention.
Macisaac said Yousefpour helped co-ordinate some of the emergency radio communication, including to fire officials assisting with ambulances at Pedder Bay. Meanwhile, Macisaac helped the Spring Tide unload its passengers and push back off.
Race Rocks, an ecological reserve managed by Pearson College, is normally off limits to the public.
Macisaac said the ocean temperature is about 9.7 C. “If they hadn’t been wearing wetsuits they would have been in a lot of trouble.”
This is the second emergency at Race Rocks in the last few months.
On July 5, Timothy Chu, a 27-year-old British police officer, became separated from his dive master and drowned. His body was recovered on Aug. 27.
rwatts@timescolonist.com
– See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/nine-scuba-divers-rescued-in-rough-seas-off-race-rocks-1.2111723#sthash.37bWnQHs.dpuf
Other media covering the event appeared at:
The boat was sighted overturned, approximately 300 meters south of the main island. 9 divers were clinging onto their boat for over an hour. Victoria Coast Guard responded promptly as did a tour boat in the area (Springtide). Eventually the 9 were reached to safety, with one in hypothermic state.
See TC Article: Nine DIvers rescued after boat capsizes near Race Rocks http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/nine-scuba-divers-rescued-in-rough-seas-off-race-rocks-1.2111723
Ecological Happenings
Rough sea conditions and winds up to 31 kts. Swells of up to 8ft @ Jordan River
Marine Vessels
One tour boat (Springtide) and one dive boat. Eventually the tour boat was involved in the rescue of the dive boat and its 9 divers.
Visitors
9 passengers from the tour boat Springtide were offloaded at RR docks, to make room for Springtide’s rescue attempt. The passengers were on the island for approximately 1 hour before returning to the boat.
Boat in distress off Race Rocks. Wind was picking up to 20 knots and gusting from the west . Sea picked up to 2ft chop and building. 18ft reiael white and orange in colour. Boat #11k4799 2 men on board. Stan weasst and Jack Jason– towed to Pedder bay marina sag dcok . time involved approx. 2 hours.
Lightkeeper: Mike Slater
Observed red flare, hand held , 2 miles N.E. of station. Advised RCC . Navy tug Glendine responded to capsized zodiac 3 occupants rescued and boat towed to Pedder Bay. ( Ed note: Occupants were 2 Pearson College Students. Corey and Ziad if I recall correctly!)
On Oct 24 observed 4 successive flares and asssisted RCC in locating Boat.
Charles Redhead
0745– Observed boat half mile off station with transom under water .. notified RCC . Requested to respond with station boat. Aerrived on scene 0755, Two occupants taken on board 22ft pleasure boat , which took sinking boat under tow.
Keeper: Charles Redhead
Observed Boat in Distress drifting towards Race Rocks . Towed boat in to RR. loaned 12 volt battery to operator, Terry Chipeur boat # 14k 32914
Keeper: Charles Redhead