A family is grateful for the quick-thinking actions of a passing whale-watching group after a crabbing expedition on Cowichan Bay on Vancouver Island went horribly wrong.
Simon Pidcock, with Ocean EcoVentures, was out whale-watching with a couple of other people in an area fairly close to the mouth of the bay around 6 p.m. PT when he noticed something out of the ordinary.
"We saw this boat doing donuts and it just didn't look right so we went over and we investigated," he said.
"As we got closer, we saw that a man with a two-year old son was treading water, holding the two-year old son out of the water. Then, the boat was doing donuts about 20 to 30 feet (six to 10 metres) from them. It was pretty close to them, full speed.
Here is the complete news article.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/rescuer-commends-actions-of-5-year-old-girl-after-crabbing-trip-goes-awry-1.4039125
Thank you for posting the media report on this story.
From my experience boating in the Fraser R Richmond area & out in the chuck is adventurous & fun but at least 5-10 times it got very very dangerous.
Let's just say I would not want to repeat those situations.
From racing by 99.999 % submerged logs,to 10-14 ft steep waves, to wake & wind waves ( confused water conditions) to boating to New Westminster & back to Richmond during snow melt,to hitting 2 ocean going tugs going near full throttle ( no tow ) wake !!! Like 30 high forceful wake waves. Two tugs were following each other. In a 13 foot roundabout with 35 hp outboard ( got an Arima 16 ft a few yrs later. Safer. )
But surely if I put the same number of hours that we boated locally,on driving the local highways ,bet there would be stories of near accidents.
Give me a good 17 ft boat & it would be safer than driving on highway in a 3/4 ton truck.
In this latest boat mishap this group will keep on boating in the future but will be extra careful is my guess. No loss of life is worth repeating. Alright.