RCM-SAR Oak Bay looking for new volunteers to keep boaters safe

From left to right: Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue volunteers Martin Hoffman, James Dranchuk and Justin Stephenson.

When there is an emergency at sea, the difference between life and death could be just a matter of minutes.

Justin Stephenson is a training officer with the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue (RCM-SAR), Oak Bay and says conditions can change in a hurry and catch some off guard.

“When things go south on the water, they can go south very fast,” said Stephenson.

A situation like that often calls for a hero – and that’s where the brave men and women of the RCM-SAR come into play.

“In the last year we helped over 370 people,” said Stephenson.

Oak Bay Marine SAR has 40 regular crew members. There are 30 Marine SAR stations along the B.C. coast, plus another located on Shuswap Lake. Those stations are manned by more than 900 professionally trained volunteers.

“I’m one step up from a newbie,” said James Dranchuk, who joined Oak Bay’s team two-and-a-half years ago.

It’s not your average volunteer position. It involves constant training and a lot of certifications.

“We’re on call by 24-7, 365,” said Stephenson.

That can consume a lot of one’s time. Last year those 900 volunteers up and down the coast of B.C. clocked nearly 20,000 hours of their own time honing their skills.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for years,” said Dranchuk.

He has been racing sailboats out of the Royal Victoria Yacht Club for the past 35 years. He was looking to give back and had the skills necessary to join Oak Bay’s SAR team.

For Martin Hoffman, another member who joined in 2018, giving back means saying thank-you to an organization that once saved his life following a kite surfing mishap

“I couldn’t get back in and I was heading out through Baynes Channel, heading out into Harow Straight,” said Hoffman.

From man overboard calls to missing kayakers and windsurfers, the RCM-SAR team in Oak Bay says they have seen it all – including one incident in November when a man fell off his sailboat late at night. He managed to hang on to the vessel in the frigid waters.

“The fella that was clinging onto the back of his sailboat, we saved his life,” said Dranchuk.

The organization says it is always looking for new recruits as well as donor funds.

“That is basically what we exist on, if we didn’t have that we wouldn’t be able to do the work that we do, helping to save lives on the water,” said Stephenson.