FROM THE HELM
"Coast Guard Auxiliary unit leader Curtis Bolton pushes the throttle of his fast response vessel and speeds toward a man floating motionless in the waters of Departure Bay."
Crew members Dave Lee and Steve Jackson monitor the radar and GPS systems while readying the rope and rescue gear.
Before you know it, they have silenced the engines, leaped from their stations and rolled the victim into their boat using a par buckling rope technique.
The crew staged the rescue as a training exercise and the mock victim was auxiliary member Brandon Dornan.
But they were trying to prove an all-too-real point: the search and rescue personnel of Nanaimo's Coast Guard Auxiliary are volunteers, and they need the community's support."
As a passive member of the local Coast Guard Auxiliary, I am on an email list to receive news about its activities, including call-outs to local marine emergencies.
I say 'passive' because, like most boaters, I've yet to attend a meeting, donate a dime, or put in an hour of volunteer work on their behalf. Yet I am in awe of the kind of dedication I see here, and I'm sure it's no different in every other Auxiliary unit on Vancouver Island.
While we're sleeping in our cozy beds, these guys (and yes, most of them are guys) are being rousted out by a bleeping pager in the dead of night to race down to their responder vessels and out onto the waters - in every imaginable condition - to save lives.
And save lives they do ... yours and mine, if we end up in any of the kinds of situations that these folks deal with on a day-to-day basis. They are all volunteers, taking training on their own time (and sometimes at their own expense) so that they can be available to help mariners in emergencies.
I'm happy to provide a 'plug' for them here - I'd rather not become one of their statistics.
And I'm sure they'd all love to get a good night's sleep.