SAR Files: What Went Wrong?

February-March 1998

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.

By Lee Dixon

This is the second in a series drawn from the Canadian Coast Guard Search and Rescue files by Lee Dixon (right), co-owner of Windrunner Adventures. This narrative is based on an actual event, with no names used, and written in the first person to suggest what the individuals may have been thinking.

The skies were sodden grey with no blue to relieve the monotony of a monotone seascape.

The water off Mike's Island in Browning Pass reflected the grey on choppy waves. My face was soaked and my exposed skin was going numb in the wind and rain. With no sun it was miserably cold.

The water looked rough, but the prospect of staying on a soaked beach in soaked clothing was very unappetizing whereas Tofino and warmth were close, less than two miles away, at most an hour's paddle.

The three of us needed to be back in Tofino by evening anyway and felt that if we left now we could be home before the storm got worse. Since my partner and I were both experienced paddlers (although his son was not) we made the decision to paddle back.

With three packs and three people, our 18 foot cedar strip canoe was loaded to the gunwales. We were a bit closer to the water than I would have liked, but we had canoed in some river rapids and figured we could handle it. There was only one life jacket and my partner was using it as a knee pad while he paddled from the stern. I sat in the bow paddling with a kayak paddle. His son sat in the center looking worried but excited.

My adrenaline and fear were both rising as we paddled away from the island. The ocean has a remarkably changing face. White caps could be seen occasionally and the rolling chop seemed higher now that we were in it. The valleys of the wave troughs obscured our view. In my mind I was reviewing everything I could recall about bracing.

As we came around a point, the waves suddenly increased in size and became more erratic. Before we had time to think, the canoe was swamped and we were all engulfed in icy black water.

Somehow we all managed to stay attached to the canoe but repeated attempts to right it left us exhausted, cold, and exceedingly worried.

Clinging to an overturned canoe in very cold water we realized we had no flares, no radio and no lifejackets. Our fleece and rain gear were soaked and plastered to our bodies. Worst of all, we were drifting past Mike's Island and into the stronger currents of Browning Pass.

Overhead a helicopter could be heard above the wind. We shouted, screamed, waved and splashed but the helicopter continued on. We were truly on our own. It occurred to me now that we could die. This canoe would just keep drifting away and we would all die, one by one.

My adrenaline began kicking in, every survival instinct at the fore. "I'm a strong swimmer" I announced. "I'm going to swim to shore. Once I get there I'll get help."

"How?" demanded my partner.

"Swimming will warm me up! I can make in", I said, striking out.

I quickly found myself fighting for each stroke, my clothes dragging me down, waves splashing my face and cold stealing my strength. 1 will make it. 1 will make it, I said to keep myself going. Eventually my arm hit something and I was no longer having to work so hard to keep my mouth out of the water. I was on land and I lay there. I couldn't move. I just wanted to sleep.

COMMENTARY

This account is based on an incident that occurred June 9,1997. Fortune eventually smiled on these three. The man, seeing a pleasure craft, crawled up on top of the canoe. While waving, he fell back into the water and his splash alerted the other boater.

All three were rescued after being in the water for an hour and a half. They were taken to Tofino hospital, treated for hypothermia and released.

But how is it that these people found themselves so ill-prepared in a life threatening situation? My guess is that they were lulled into complacency by the short distance they had to paddle and the proximity of land all along their route. Not being familiar with ocean paddling they didn't take into account the interactions of currents, winds, waves, and land.