Radio Monitoring Pays Off

With all the radios being on at home most of the time we tend to hear some fairly interesting stuff... combine that with our involvement with the CCGA and it all fits together nicely (In fact, I sit here writing this while there is a search going on right near Vancouver Airport) - but yesterday was a special case.

One of our friends in the Auxiliary has a sailboat. We only found out About that About a week ago - and it was the first time we had heard its name ´Wind Maiden´ He was possibly going to be visiting our area which is the only reason why we discussed the vessel and his trip.

Yesterday I was working in my office - with the radios on as usual and was just About to take a break and mow the lawn what I heard a very scratchy call About a vessel broken down near Poilier Pass and requesting assistance. The call was so  weak that I couldn´t copy the vessel name, but I thought I recognized the voice - so I stayed to listen. I knew MCTS would soon issue a broadcast and I´d be able to confirm my suspision then.

Sure enough it was Wind Maiden - and knowing that CCGA vessel as not tasked for anything other then immediate danger either I managed to contact one of the CCGA units to help him (as a training exercise) or he was going to have to pay for a commercial assist (for those that don´t know commercial assistance usually costs in excess of $500 for a short tow - and the nearest vessel to him was an hour just to get there)

The nearest CCG unit is in Ladysmith and I had just recently been there for a visit as part of the ARTE team, so I tried calling the Unit Leader - voicemail - drat! The next closest unit was the Gulf Islands unit and our Manager of SAR is a member so I tried calling him - but he was on-call for Ambulance and couldn´t go - double drat!

I had been trying to limit my calls and find someone quickly but I was out of phone numbers and I knew if something didn´t happen soon my friend would likely accept the commercial assist - so I called my friend on Wind Maiden via mobile phone - at least to let him know I was trying...

He suggested the past unit leader in Ladysmith and after a quick call to the CCGA office to get his number I finally made contact. The Ladysmith CCGA unit was happy to go and assist and in the end towed Wind Maiden safely into Maple Bay.

Considering how must time this particular member has contributed to the Auxiliary it would have been a terrible shame for him to have had to pay for commercial assistance - which made the fact that Ladysmith could make it out to help all that much more delightful.

It certainly put a smile on my face - what with all the coincidences involved - had he not told me About his Boat, had I not happened to be in the office at that time, had I not have just recently started monitoring Ch 04A - it simply wouldn´t have panned out.

Anyway - that´s my happy ending story for the day.

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