Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue's (RCMSAR) new simulator is vivid and immersive, and while the visuals may not be not photo-realistic, the impacts are.
The feeling you get at the helm is quite real, allowing trainees to experience zipping across the Salish Sea, navigating around ferries, kayakers and shipping vessels. It can even induce seasickness in the most experienced mariners.
On March 7, RCMSAR hosted students from Pearson College and community members as they showcased their new fast rescue craft simulator that's helping save lives on the water.
“You can create the exact training environment that you want. You can give them exactly the parameters, exactly the environment, exactly the types of situations you want them to be in,” said Dowker.
“People learn fast on the simulator, because in the boat, if you have a problem, you can’t just stop and figure it out. Life keeps going on. The ocean keeps oceaning while you’re out there.”
At their headquarters in East Sooke, the simulator takes up two rooms. One houses a replica of the helm of an RCMSAR rescue craft in front of a massive 180-degree floor-to-ceiling screen, while the other contains the control room, where an operator can design unique scenarios for trainees.
The new simulator represents an upgrade to RCMSAR’s previous system, which CEO Bill Riggs says was beginning to show its age. The new software upgrades, along with some hardware improvements, have helped make training more effective and efficient.
“The system is stable now. The old system was getting old, like all of us,” said Riggs.
“Now we won't have the same problems we were having when it comes to maintenance and things like that. For me, that’s the big one.”
Riggs further explained the software upgrades were some of the most significant, allowing for new training opportunities, while ensuring the systems longevity.
It's a unique system with few equals in Canada. For an organization of about 900 volunteers, it provides a huge advantage, especially considering that the cost of building such a simulator from scratch is estimated at between $1.5 million and $2 million.
But thanks to funding from the TK Foundation and salvaging hardware from the previous simulator, RCMSAR was able to create the state-of-the-art training tool for a fraction of that cost.
So far, reviews have been positive.
“The first time I was in the training, I was in a coxswain role, which was cool because I could actually lead the team, train the navigator and train the helms person, even though I would never be in that role at my level right now,” said Jordie Allen-Newman, a volunteer and crew member in their fourth year with RCMSAR 37 in Sooke.
So far, Allen-Newman says their team loves training on the simulator.
“We can be out in really awful seas, like the winter months, at night. Every week we'll be out training in all kinds of conditions, and the simulator can capture all of that,” said Allen-Newman.
“It can include swimmers in the water and have other vessels coming through. It can push us to recognize the proper mission regulations that we need to follow as we navigate. It can involve worsening weather, or it could be calm and provide a team with the opportunity to learn their roles.”
Allen-Newman says they are looking forward to using the simulator to improve their skills as a navigator.
“I want to be challenged in terms of rules of the road and regulations, and navigating through narrow channels at sea, being able to guide the vessel in response,” they said.
“We don’t have to have specific crew members or leaders there, because the people who run the simulator can just be there to tell us what we need, give us our mission based on what our needs are, and we can work.”
For Dowker, the simulator helps ensure that everyone who trains in Sooke leaves a better mariner. With such a unique tool at their disposal, that opportunity is being extended to many.
“We’ve had folks from the Canada Border Services Agency, we’ve had folks from our coastal nations, coast guarding partners and things like that,” said Riggs, who added that they’ve even hosted para-rescuers from the U.S. Air Force.
“Everyone who comes here, with no exceptions, has said what a fantastic tool the simulator is. It gets an excellent response of 100 per cent. There’s no doubt in anyone's mind, except maybe those who get a little seasick,” said Dowker.
