Rescuing the Barracuda

So, RENARD 58 was just driving along, doing some navigation training in Sansum Narrows (between Vancouver Island and Saltspring Island), enjoying the (almost) total lack of contacts. It wasn't a particularly nice day, but it wasn't too bad. Then, all of a sudden,

"PAN PAN, PAN PAN, PAN PAN, this is Barracuda..."

Not a big deal, panpans go out all the time, and most of the time they're hours away at best speed. So we just keep on going though I (as OOW), the OIC, and some others on the bridge keep on listening. Victoria Coast Guard got on 16 and asked them what the issue was, and if they had a GPS onboard, which they did, and what their boat looked like. Red sloop, coordinates whatever, stalled engine refusing to start again, in calm winds, 2 souls on board. Now that sounded kind of familiar.

Oh, right, that's because we'd just passed a red sloop with two people on board, the winds were light, and the coordinates were for about 500 yards behind us.

Now, the rules are pretty straightforward, at least as far as what the OOW needs to do. Which is nothing. Or as close to it as possible. Only the Captain can decide whether or not to respond to an emergency, and until he does, the OOW is not to do a single thing. Even turning back towards the stricken vessel (where relevant--like in open ocean or when it's 500 yards away) can be considered as responding, and the ship then is obligated to keep responding until relieved by another more capable asset. The OIC listened in on the conversation between Barracuda and the Coast Guard, and when the CCG said they would put out a broadcast for assistance, he called them up and said we had them visual and would respond. At this point, the sailboat was close to the rocks and, if we left them to their fate, they would surely run aground. Besides, one of the recent Canadian Forces recruiting campaigns calls for us to...

Actual image from a CF recruiting video

...so we did.

We launched the zodiac with a small
prize crew
team, which included our only engineer, to assess what the problem was with the engine, and hopefully get it started. They tied up to the Barracuda to stop its slow drift aground, and then fiddled for a few minutes. The engineer reported that it was unlikely he could fix the engine at sea, and they would need to put in somewhere. The Barracuda was adamant about waiting for a friend to come give them a tow but, of course, we couldn't very well just leave them in the middle of the narrows so they could run aground, so we offered to tow them to safety.

RENARD's zodiac towing the BARRACUDA alongside

All's well that ends well, we got them onto a public wharf at a small marina, made sure they were ok and would be getting a tow from their friend, did a bit of necessary admin, and went back to our navigation training.

But not before our downright heroic prize crew had gotten their recognition.

LS Pope (Engineer), Lt(N) Laplante (XO), and A/SLt McGowan (JOUT)

with their latest medal and a well-deserved cup of tea