Rescue crews scrambled from 19 Wing Comox in a Cormorant helicopter early Thursday morning to rescue a sick sailor who was grounded in a remote inlet.
The crew from 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron evacuated a sick passenger from a 90-foot landing craft, docked in Loughborough Inlet, early Thursday morning.
The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Victoria received a call from Comox Coast Guard Radio shortly after 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday night, requesting the evacuation of a passenger aboard a landing craft. The passenger was reportedly suffering abdominal pains.
A helicopter from 442 Squadron, 19 Wing Comox, was dispatched and set down at a logging camp near the docked craft shortly after midnight.
“Carrying the patient off the vessel and across the muddy landing was the most difficult part of the operation,” said search and rescue technician Sergeant Glen Hood.
Once ashore, SAR Techs carried the patient back to the waiting helicopter for the flight to Comox.
“We faced deteriorating weather on the flight out of the inlet,” said Aircraft Commander, Captain Wayne Atwood.
“Once we climbed above the fog and clouds though, it was a clear flight back.”
Upon arrival at 19 Wing Comox at 2 a.m., the patient was transferred into the care of the B.C. Ambulance Service in stable condition.
• This is the time to make sure your boat is ready for the winter season.
One of the first parts of that process, said Danny Meyer from Hi-Way Power Marine, is to deal with possible corrosion.
“You don’t want water left in the gear case,” he said. “You also want everything lubricated up and the fuel stabilized.”
After treating the fuel with stabilizer, he said, it’s important to run the engine long enough to make sure it has circulated throughout the system.
“If you can drain your fuel system, that’s a good way to go, but if you can’t you need to make sure the fuel is stabilized,” he said.
“You might also want to change your gear oil, or at least check it to make sure there is no water in there. If there is, it can freeze over the winter and crack the gear case.”
Meyer suggested lubing all linkages, and cables, “basically, anything that moves,” greasing any nipples and fogging the engine with a special spray that coats the cylinder and rings to prevent corrosion.
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