A “severely hypothermic” sailor wearing a yellow life-jacket was rescued after spending several hours in frigid waters between Cortes and Hernando islands.
The eye-catching colour of the life-jacket helped searchers find the man.
“Without the yellow life-jacket, it is unlikely that responders would have been able to find the missing captain and save his life,” Kiri Westnedge, communications adviser for the Canadian Coast Guard, said Tuesday.
The Canadian Coast Guard’s Marine Communications and Traffic Services received a report about 1 p.m. Monday of a 42-foot unoccupied sailing vessel on the rocks near Cortes Bay on Cortes Island.
A coast guard inshore rescue boat investigated. The vessel appeared to have been recently occupied but the captain was missing, Westnedge said.
Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre Victoria issued a mayday and sent a Cormorant helicopter, a Hercules aircraft and four vessels to search the area.
After an extensive search, the crew of the Cape Palmerston, a coast guard motor lifeboat, spotted a person in a yellow life-jacket floating in Hernando Channel, Westnedge said.
The man had been in the water for about four to five hours and was severely hypothermic, she said.
Lifeboat crew members were able to get the man on board, where they administered first aid while transporting him to emergency health services on the mainland.
“This incident is a good reminder to everyone in the boating community to have the proper safety equipment on board your vessel and most importantly, think of it like a seat-belt: important to wear even if you’re just travelling a few minutes down the coast,” Westnedge said.
