Four people had to be rescued off the rocks near Little Beach on Saturday, April 12 after their rigid hull inflatable boat somehow punctured a pontoon.
Geoff Johnson from Ukee Tube just happened to be in the area filming the sunset at Big Beach when he saw the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Cape McKay motor around the corner toward Little Beach. He saw via a marine app on his phone that they were conducting a search and rescue, so he worked his way over to investigate. He took some photos and posted them online only once he knew that no one was hurt.
Johnson said it looked like the small inflatable boat sprung a leak and the people aboard made their way to a small island of rocks off Little Beach to call for help. A spokesperson with the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Victoria said Monday they were alerted to a "crashed" rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) on the west side of the Ucluelet Peninsula, and the Cape McKay from Bamfield Coast Guard Station was tasked with the rescue.
The vessel was quickly located, four people were rescued from the rocks and the inflatable was recovered as well.
The next morning Johnson received a text from the Bamfield lifeboat station crew thanking him for featuring them on his YouTube channel. "Our work often goes unnoticed and it's lovely to see the communities' gratuities in the comments," the person wrote.
