Here's what happened, in some detail.
A group of 4 of us paddled from Smuggler Cove area to Jedediah for the Easter long weekend. Myself and another friend left on Sunday, while the other two decided to stay an extra day. They had one VHF radio, possibly one cellphone, no satellite communications devices. There was no clear communication in regards to "If we are not back by....,call the Coast Guard",but they both had work/school on Tuesday.
Monday came and we haven't heard back by 8pm. Considering forecast, length of crossing,and their experience level, both me and the friend I paddled back with were concerned. The most likely scenario that ran through my head is they decided the headwind was too much and either didn't launch, or aborted the crossing and landed somewhere on south tip of Texada and camped for the night. The less likely, but drastically worse scenario was that one or both of them could have ended up in the drink somewhere in the main crossing between Texada and Thormanby due to rough conditions and fatigue. I would rate their skill level as intermediate-ish. The forecast as I read it on Monday was a bit dubious, it called for 20-30 knots for Strait of Georgia North of Nanaimo, and 15-20 knots South of Nanaimo, I was a bit unclear what to really expect as Jedediah is a bit North of Nanaimo but not a whole lot, and the difference between forecasts was significant.
Both of us agreed to call the Coast Guard, shortly after 8pm on Monday I made the call. Chatted with the duty person, gave him the information as I knew it. He dispatched a boat from Squitty Bay on Lasqueti island to check on the spot where we camped. They were not there, though a man from a sailboat in the bay reported seeing them leave between 2-3pm. The Search and Rescue boat checked a few spots in the vicinity, including some spots on South Texada, with no success. Sunshine Coast police also verified that their car was still in the same place. The search was escalated to include multiple boats and a helicopter. Around 11PM i received another call that they still found nothing after checking a few bays and possible spots they could have tucked into.
Tuesday morning, around 7AM I got a call from the new duty person as shifts changed. He asked a few other basic questions, i verified with the workplace of one of the friends that she's definitely not there and has not been heard from. Search now included a Buffalo airplane in addition to the boats and helicopter.
10AM . I sat down to make a call to notify my friend's parents. As I pulled out the phone, it rang and it was the duty person at Search and Rescue. Our friends were found, paddling into Welcome Passage, almost back at the put-in, safe and sound. I got a friendly talking-to about resources they put into the search and importance of communication. I agreed and thanked him.
--Later on, talking to our friends, turned out they made the crossing from Jedediah to Texada,starting at 2:45pm or so, took them a while battling into headwind, they thought better of attempting the main crossing due to heavy seas and wind. They made camp near south tip of Texada. They have heard helicopter and possibly search boat but didn't think much of it. In the morning the conditions were calm and they made the paddle back almost all the way to the put-in before being spotted by the Buffalo, then the helicopter landed two rescue personel who talked to them.
P.S----My personal conclusions....
#We really should have discussed contingency plan ("if we don't feel safe to cross, we camp here", "if we're not back by ....,call Coast Guard")
#We probably should have not split up in the first place, as me and the friend I left with were the more experienced paddlers in the group.
#They could have used the VHF radio to contact the CG to either relay a message to us that they are OK, or to let CG know in case we call. Once they got suspicious that there is something happening in the area, they could have used Channel 16 to check with CG what's happening, as it's not unreasonable to assume we could have called it in.
#A Sat Comm device would be handy, and there's often an opportunity to borrow one as multiple people in our friends group have them. I own one but didn't bring it as I assumed we'd return together.
...I am very grateful to Search and Rescue for the work they do, but also remains the fact that on Tuesday morning my friends were paddling on open water in calm seas for about 3 hours, right in the search grid before they were spotted. Makes one consider the difficulty of locating 2 small objects on a large body of water.
In the end of the day, I plan to learn from the situation, I am glad nothing really happened. I feel a bit silly for the massive search effort , but given the circumstances I feel making the call was a reasonable choice.
