Boating beware
Tips on how to stay safe in the water.
“The difficulty with Nova Scotia, once you’re in the woods for a little while it all looks the same, so you can get turned around really quickly,” said Annapolis County’s recreation director.
It’s the same with paddling. “When you’re on some of those lakes those islands and those juts of land - it will all blend together,” said Debra Ryan. “Often I’ve heard people (say) their two-hour paddle turned to three or four because they did get lost.”
Hilton Seymour knows all about it. He searches for people who get lost. Or injured.
Both Ryan and Seymour said there’s a lot to know if you’re boating in the wilderness. They believe being prepared is the best course to chart, and they’re teaming up to help recreational boaters help themselves.
Annapolis County Ground Search and Rescue, in partnership with the County of Annapolis recreation department, are hosting an information session for canoe and kayak paddlers and other pleasure craft boaters on April 19 at 6:30 p.m. at the NSCC campus in Lawrencetown.
Also taking part are Clean Nova Scotia, Paddle Smart, and the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre based in Halifax. It’s open to anybody for a donation to the Twelve Baskets Food Bank.
“It’s more or less a safety information session – things that you need to have with you on the water to make sure you are safe,” said ACGSAR’S Hilton Seymour.
Included will be trip planning, trip tips, what to take with you, and what to do in an emergency. He said a pre-trip plan, for instance, can be tucked under the windshield wiper when boaters are unloading their craft at the beginning of their trip. If they become lost, RCMP have a starting point that can narrow the search focus and save valuable time.
Safety
Ryan said she encourages people to be outdoors and active – whether it be paddling, hiking, boating, Atving – but with that comes the responsibility to be safe.
“That’s why we’ve joined in partnership with Annapolis County Ground Search and Rescue,” she said. “We’re going to have information on Canoe Annapolis County, and we’ll have our guide there which is the showcase of selected paddling routes in Annapolis County. We also want to showcase our Annapolis County backcountry watch program which is an environmental education program so that when you use the backcountry it is about being safe but it is also bringing a ‘no-trace’ component to the wilderness areas - because in Annapolis County we have a lot of areas where we want people to be responsible backing it in and packing it out.”
And Ryan said despite cellphones and GPS it’s always about map and compass – you should learn map and compass first and foremost.
“You should never go into the woods without having really good quality maps,” she said. “You can use Canoe Annapolis County as a guide, but you should also have another map that’s probably topographical in nature as well. You can always have your GPS but the batteries do die.”
She also noted most people think they know how to use GPS but when they get in the backcountry it’s not the place to learn it.
More Sessions
“This is the beginning of a larger project where Annapolis County Ground Search and Rescue will be doing these information sessions throughout the course of every calendar year moving forward,” said Seymour. “We’ll be touching on items such as responsible hiking, how to prepare you for winter activities such as snowshoeing, skiing, snowmobiling. Through the Adventure Smart Program there are probably pretty close to 15 topics we’ll be covering throughout the course of the next 12 months.”
To register for the April 19 session email Ryan at Dryan@ annapoliscounty.ca or call 902665-5010. Or email ACGSAR@ gmail.com.