Flares were shot off over the water at the Bay of Islands Yacht Club in Corner Brook on Saturday afternoon, but it wasn’t a call for help.
The Canadian Coast Guard was at the marina conducting a training session wilth about 30 members of the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary Newfoundland and Labrador Inc.
Neil Peet is with incident management with the Canadian Coast Guard.
The auxiliary encompasses all the waters of the province and is divided into 10 districts.
With 29,000 kilometres of coastline in the province and 16 vessels in the coast guard fleet, Peet said, the need for the auxiliary becomes quite evident.
“We just can’t be everywhere we need to be when we need to be there,” he said.
“So, we strategically work with our volunteers to identify and recruit member vessels and train volunteers from around the island to help be our eyes and ears when something happens in their backyard and also to help us respond to anything that may happen.”
There are about 478 vessels and 736 volunteers in the auxiliary. Peet said it’s about 92 per cent made up of commercial fisherpersons, with a small percentage of recreational boaters and long-term volunteers who bring a skillset to the organization.
To be effective, Peet said, the group needs organization, leadership and training.
It’s the training that was the focus of the day.
Once a year, auxiliary members with 10 years of service are brought together to complete some mandatory skills training.
It starts in the classroom with first aid for incidents they’ll find on the water, how to plan and execute searches, and water rescue techniques.
It then moves to the water, where they put the skills to practice.
“They’ll have an opportunity to try some things that they see in textbooks, they see on missions, but may not necessarily get the opportunity to do it as part of their regular day-to-day lives.”
Things like marine abandonment, by donning a marine abandonment suit and getting in the water to practice getting into a life raft.
And line-throwing skills to be able to get lines from their boat to a person in distress in the water.
Among the coast guard employees and auxiliary members helping with the training was Howard Noel.
The Woody Point man is the west coast director with the auxiliary and has been with the organization for 31 years. He was helping man the line-splicing station and shared with the participants the technique he’s used for many years.
He said the skills taught at the training session are all very important, especially for fishermen who are often going offshore a couple of hundred miles, with help nowhere in sight.
“You’re helping people out. If somebody has trouble, you go out.”
The group wrapped up its time in Corner Brook with an awards banquet Saturday night.
Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary Newfoundland and Labrador Inc. Award Winners
Harry Strong, Old Perlican — recognized for 40 years of service
Ralph Paul, Burin — Operational Merit Award
Glen Winslow, St. John’s, of the vessel Roberts Sisters II — Operational Merit Award
