A 911 call by a community member reporting to the OPP Communications Centre the sounds of calls for help and quick actions by three uniform officers from the Southern Georgian Bay OPP Detachment resulted in a 61 year old Brockton male being pulled from the waters of Midland Bay overnight.
Calls for help that were heard around 8:30 p.m. August 8, 2023, were learned by the caller to be from a male in the water at the stern area of a sailboat with a small Zodiac vessel attached to it approximately two hundred meters off the shoreline of Gawley Park. Although Midland Fire Services and OPP Marine Unit were notified, three OPP officers attended the scene by land and quickly commandeered a small aluminum boat from a nearby residence and drove out to the sailboat. They located a conscious, but very fatigued male in the water without a life jacket clinging onto the exterior of the Zodiac vessel.
Officers were able to get the male fitted with a life jacket from the Zodiac which assisted them in removing him from the cool water which he had been in for over an hour reducing his ability to physically move.
After being triaged at the scene, the male was transported to an area hospital by Simcoe County Paramedic Services for treatment and was fortunately later released.
This sailor was fortunate to have a community member hear his calls for help and for emergency services to make the rescue in time. Wearing a life jacket while on the water can help make a difference into the outcome of these situations as Georgian Bay is a big place and self rescue maybe your only option.
For more information on water safety please view the following link- http://www.coldwaterbootcamp.com/pages/home.html
When in doubt of marine vessel safety requirements and operator requirements please visit the following Transport Canada website – https://tc.canada.ca/en/marine-transportation/marine-safety/office-boating-safety?utm_campaign=tc-boating-safety-ongoing&utm_medium=vurl&utm_source=tc-gc-ca-boatingsafety
