Marine search-and-rescue crews tow a power boat back to shore after rescuing its occupants Sunday.

Marine search-and-rescue crews tow a power boat back to shore after rescuing its occupants Sunday.

Powerless boaters rescued by Coast Guard

Coast Guard aids vessel miles off Crescent Beach shore

A trio of Peninsula residents – including a teenaged boy – had to be rescued from the rough waters of Boundary Bay Sunday.

A Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue (RCM-SAR5) crew was dispatched from their Crescent Beach base just before 7 p.m. Oct. 12, after a cellphone call for help was fielded by the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre.

The caller said the boaters – two young men and a 14-year-old boy – had been trying for three hours to paddle to shore after their 21-foot power boat broke down.

They were fighting against a strong current, wind, fog, rain and fading light.

According to RCM-SAR5 spokesman Andrew Newman, they did not have a VHF radio and were not dressed for the weather.

Without power, the vessel was adrift without any lights, he added.

The rescue crew located the vessel at 7:40 p.m., close to its last-known position approximately three nautical miles south of Crescent Beach.

They brought the occupants onto the Vigilant, and towed the power boat back to Crescent Beach Marina.

 

 

Peace Arch News