GAMRU marine unit needs rescue
They have pulled people in distress out of lake waters after their boat capsized. Towed broken boats back to safety. They’ve extinguished boats on fire. And they can defibrillate a heart back to life.
And when the weather is too nasty, when the waves are so big other boats head for shore, that’s often the time when they get called out.
Members of the Grimsby Auxiliary Marine Rescue Unit — GAMRU — are a team of some 30 volunteers specially trained to respond to marine emergencies on Lake Ontario.
Last summer was the busiest on record. The unit was called out to rescue missions 34 times. A windsurfer in distress. Capsized sailboat. A sailboat on the rocks. And multiple calls for people in the water.
In the words of Doug Mepham, its deputy unit leader: “You never know what you’re going to get when the call comes.”
And now, the rescue unit needs the community’s help.
It must raise some $300,000 to buy a new rescue boat. It’s 22-foot Zodiac Hurricane, a rigid-hull inflatable boat, is near the end of its life.
In August 2016, the boat responded to a mayday call. The weather was rough. The waves were big. The next day, while it was towing a disabled 42-foot boat during a rescue on Lake Ontario, it suffered what volunteers call a “catastrophic failure.”
The Zodiac started to take on water. And after it completed the rescue, it had to rescue itself by heading to the Canada Centre for Inland Waters in Hamilton Harbour.
In fact, there was a big hole in its hull. A strip some three metres long by one metre wide was missing, all under water. And yet, the very nature of a rescue boat meant that it could sustain that amount of damage and not sink itself, said Mepham.
“We’re going out when most people are coming in,” he said. “The boats see extreme service.
“It’s not surprising it takes a toll.”
Eventually, the hull was repaired. And its two outboard motors, waterlogged and damaged beyond repair, were replaced by two new engines donated by the Honda Canada Foundation.
And this year, with a patched-up hull and two new motors, it was on the water again.
“It had a new lease on life,” said Mepham. “But it doesn’t make it any younger.
“Reality is, it’s at the end of its service life.”
The safety of volunteers is paramount, he said. Volunteers carry pagers and respond to calls from about April to November. GAMRU is part of a network of rescue boats, including the Canadian Coast Guard and various police marine units.
When someone calls for help, the joint rescue co-ordination centre based at Canadian Forces Base Trenton dispatches a search and rescue boat. At any given time, the centre knows the location of all the boats and sends out the closest, best-equipped vessel, said Mepham.
The volunteer unit, part of the Coast Guard auxiliary, was founded in 1988. Volunteers train yearround to maintain their skills.
“It’s inherently risky what we do,” said Mepham. “But we try to put our volunteers out there with the best equipment we can afford.”
In fact, the Zodiac is 22 years old and served with the Canadian Coast Guard first, before going into service with GAMRU.
The unit also has a second boat, a larger, steel-hulled vessel. But it’s the versatility of the smaller Zodiac that is needed — fast, especially useful in shallow water and because of its size it can be launched with a small crew for quick response to emergencies, he said.
To date, about $70,000 has been raised — a good chuck, some $50,000 of that will come from the Wise Guys Charity Fund, themselves a group of volunteers and business partners dedicated to raising funds for community projects and programs.
Mepham said GAMRU will first explore donation possibilities from corporate and government sources. And by the spring, will bring its fundraising efforts to the public.
Likely, the old boat will serve one more season and they will have a new boat for 2019, he said.