Coast Guard stages joint rescue efforts

Three days of search and rescue exercises in Passamaquoddy Bay this week by the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards involved simulated rescues of an overdue kayaking tour out of St. Andrews and of the crew of a fishing boat that sank without time to send out a distress call. The two scenarios were developed by the Rescue Training Centre/Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Halifax, and the exercises are aimed at joint training for both Coast Guard crews in the U.S. and Canada and the Canadian military. The main staging area for all of the exercises was U.S. Coast Guard Station Eastport.
Following the August 24 exercise involving the kayaking tour, John Drake, the search and rescue training officer for the Canadian Coast Guard, commented, "Overall it went really well, although there were a few glitches with communications." He says one of the Coast Guard Auxiliary vessels had trouble communicating with the on-scene coordinator based on the Canadian Coast Guard offshore search and rescue vessel Sir William Alexander, which was docked in Eastport. A Cormorant helicopter also had communications problems, although that was solved by relaying the messages.
Drake says everything went well with the coordination among the U.S. and Canadian agencies. "The Americans worked perfectly with the on-scene coordinator. There were no issues with communication."
Under the simulation, a kayaking tour had left St. Andrews in the evening to go around Navy Island, but the kayakers didn't return and were reported overdue. Following a search, they were located and the Cormorant helicopter lowered personnel to conduct triage on the victims. The casualties -- three alive and three mannequins -- were picked up off Deer Island by small boats.
On the following day, the simulation called for a flare sighting near Deer Island and the finding of a six-man life-raft with one person aboard. Six people had been on a fishing vessel that exploded and quickly sank. The exercise took place in the Deer Island and Campobello area, with U.S. and Canadian Coast Guard and RCMP vessels participating. The on-scene coordinator for that exercise was Coast Guard Station Eastport.
Among the vessels participating were the CCGS Sir William Alexander, based in Halifax, the CCGC Courtenay Bay, a lifeboat based in Saint John, the U.S. Coast Guard's 45-foot rescue boat and 25-foot Safeboat based at Station Eastport, two Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary vessels, the Island Bound and the Sirius, and the RCMP vessel based in St. Andrews. Aircraft included a Canadian Forces 413 Squad Cormorant helicopter and a C130 Hercules aircraft, both based at the Canadian Forces Base in Greenwood, N.S.