Visitors to Smuggler Cove on Canada Day may have been confused when they saw a landing craft pulling ashore on the beach as Search and Rescue performed a rescue operation.
At approximately 3:50 p.m. on July 1, Sunshine Coast Search and Rescue received a callout for a woman who was injured while swimming at the end of the popular trail.
Search and rescue volunteer Alec Tebbutt said the woman and a group of approximately eight friends had been swimming and when they got out of the water, she was unable to walk because of a knee injury.
The Halfmoon Bay Fire Department was called to assist because of how quickly they could get to the area. Fifteen SAR members and eight firefighters from the Halfmoon Bay Fire Department responded to the call and were assisted by BC Emergency Health Services.
The crew found and assessed the woman, checked if she had any other injuries and then got her prepared on a stretcher.
“We're not aware of anything traumatic happening, there was no fall or anything like that, something just must have twisted in her leg somehow,” Tebbutt said, pointing out the steep, slippery terrain in the area.
Noting how hot of a day it was, the team brought extra water to give to the woman and her friends. Because of how close the woman was to the shoreline at the end of the trail, the team decided to evacuate her via the water.
“Being out at the end [of the trail], it's a fairly long stretcher carry and some slightly difficult terrain, it's just safer and more comfortable for the subject to go out by water from there,” he said.
Being Canada Day, it was a busy day on the water. The Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue station at Halfmoon Bay was unavailable to assist when SAR called – they then got in touch with Buccaneer Marina water taxi who came to assist after they finished dropping off a group returning from Thormanby Island.
SAR has worked with the water taxi company before, and Tebbutt remarked how helpful they were. The marina sent a landing craft, which Tebbutt said made it much easier to load and transport the woman on the stretcher.
The woman was taken back to Buccaneer Marine, where she was transported to the Sechelt Hospital by ambulance.
Tebbutt said all in all the operation was relatively uneventful – which in this line of work is a positive.
“It went very smoothly, just really good coordination with everybody there together.”
Jordan Copp is the Coast Reporter’s civic and Indigenous affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
