Yellowknife boaters enjoy myriad lakes and vast expanses of shoreline to explore. Great Slave Lake alone is more than 28,500 square kilometres.
All that open water makes us the envy of many in the landlocked south. But the drawback to this natural bounty is it's much more time consuming to find overdue boaters.
And when it comes to rescues, time can be the difference between life and death.
Up to 10 lives were spared earlier this month when some travellers to the Beniah Islands on Great Slave Lake experienced a blown boat engine. Fortunately they were equipped to send a distress signal and Yellowknife's coast guard auxiliary unit was dispatched to bring everyone home. Eight hours later, during the early morning of July 7, the mission was completed successfully. Not only did the boaters possess a critical communications device that bailed them out of a jam, the RCMP pointed out that the travellers had packed the necessary safety supplies to spend the night, if needed.
That foresight led to a positive outcome and it's a reminder to other boaters that safety ought to be a top priority.
So before your next weekend outing, a beloved ritual for many Yellowknifers, review your checklist carefully. The fishing gear and beverages likely won't get left behind, but make sure the safety gear isn't either.
Don't forget extra fuel, flares, a fire extinguisher, light sources and some common tools. Check your boat's battery level and that your bilge pump is functional. Make certain you know the forecast.
Tell others where you plan to go and how long until you return. Don't just pack life jackets, actually put them on.
And then there's that crucial communications device. Technology has made that one so much easier and more affordable. Remember when a big, clunky satellite phone was the norm? Not only was it cumbersome, a second mortgage was essentially required to buy and use one. Today's satellite phones are much more sleek and cheaper, costing several hundred dollars. Another option is tracking gadgets, like the SPOT device, which only rings in at a couple hundred dollars. After spending several thousand dollars, or more, for a boat, investing in one of those choices shouldn't be an oversight.
That said, for those with a tighter budget and a solid grasp of technology, there's now a free boating safety app that can be downloaded to your smart phone. It contains an online safety checklist.
In addition, there's a new online service that allows the coast guard auxiliary to text a cellphone link to a traveller's mobile phone. The person on the receiving end must accept the incoming text and then the GPS co-ordinates of the distressed party go to the coast guard auxiliary. This feature is in beta testing, meaning there still might be bugs to eliminate. Nonetheless, it shows a lot of promise.
Coast guard auxiliary unit leader Brian McShane told Yellowknifer that his organization is usually called upon more than a dozen times per season. Sometimes it is a third party calling in the emergency because the overdue boaters took off with "no phone, no radio, no nothing," McShane said.
Don't let this be you. Whether you opt for a satellite phone, a tracking device or you choose to be an early adopter of this new boating safety app, do everything you can to ensure your next boating trip isn't your last.