911 Called – Help Didn’t Arrive

With winter coming and water temperatures already dropping below 10C (50F) in Lake Ontario, a fluke situation that occurred last Thursday (Nov 5, 2020) should be a good reminder to every kitesurfer that a safe distance from shore is only as far as one can swim back to safety, taking the conditions, their own abilities, and equipment into consideration.

Last Thursday after 3pm, kitesurfing conditions at Kipling (Colonel Samuel Smith Park) were excellent. Steady wind at 13-18 knots was doming, and Aleksey was enjoying huge lofty jumps. I didn’t go to Kipling because I was lazy and I generally prefer to kite at my home location in Humber Bay Park West. These two kite spots are less than 4 kilometers apart, but the wind conditions at each place can be dramatically different. Thursday was one of those days. I watched Aleksey having fun on the water in the distance while I had less than 3 knots of wind blowing at my face on the beach at Humber. The leaves that still remain in the trees were barely moving. If you think that I would simply jump into my car, drive over, and join the party in less than 10 minutes, you don’t understand the level of my stubborn phlegmatism. Not a chance. I patiently waited over an hour for the wind to show up, then I jumped on my board and kited for 5 minutes, only to feel the wind abruptly die and leave me out there in the lake swimming. “Wow, that was a quality session! 😊” But the best was yet to come.

I didn’t waste any time trying to relaunch my kite. There was simply no wind, but no panic either. I just rolled my kite, placed it over my board, and started to swim back to shore, pushing my equipment along. This procedure is not uncommon, it is called a self-rescue, and it is an inevitable part of our sport. I was less than 300 meters from shore when the wind died, I had a drysuit, gloves, and boots on, and I was comfortably warm. The water temperature I measured earlier that day was 9.2C (49F). In fact, as a cold-water swimmer, I regularly swim over 300m in 9-degree water in just my swimsuit!

With the beach relatively close, the swim was quite peaceful and I mused over my pathetic disdain to drive just a few kilometers over to Kipling where I could have had much more fun than a forced cold-water swim with my equipment in tow. My feeling of tranquility didn’t last long, though. When I was almost back on shore, I started to hear emergency vehicle sirens in the distance and I knew right away what was coming – somebody called 911!

I was just coming out of the water when the police showed up on the beach. It was a beautiful afternoon and I had a LOT of audience. Indeed, people had good reason to stop and watch the show as even more sirens and flashing red lights were coming. The small parking lot at my launch site was jammed and commotion erupted. There was not enough space for other vehicles to let the firetrucks pass by and so a lot of backing up, turning, squeezing through, and honking at illegally parked cars was taking place. A full-on action, out of nowhere! As I looked around, I counted four big fire trucks, one police car and an ambulance, two marine rescue boats just approaching the bay, and a bit later – albeit too late – even the Media helicopter showed up to have a peek. I wasn’t happy because it all seemed totally blown out of proportion. I felt guilty that so many resources and our first responders’ time was being wasted on me.  I wished people had applied a bit more common sense before they called 911! But what can you do? I untangled a few bridle lines snagged to my harness and went to speak with the authorities.

I have been kiting at Humber Bay Park West 12 months a year for the last 8 years, and this wasn’t the first time I have had a chance to meet with the Toronto rescue crews. Even though I have never actually needed any help from the marine unit so far, and I have never had a chance to get a ride in their kick-ass rescue speedboat, the skyscrapers have been growing like mushrooms in the area, and people who are not close to the scene and don’t understand the sport seem to have a tendency to call 911 from their living rooms.

All of the officers waiting for me on the shore were absolutely professional, friendly, and relaxed about the whole ordeal. Quite frankly, their attitudes and understanding of my unfortunate circumstances made me feel much better. The captain of the rescue boat asked me if I had been alone on the water and after I confirmed, he turned his boat around and left. The firefighters, police, and paramedics remained a bit longer to make sure that I was really ok. We had a nice conversation about the kitesurfing sport itself and about the equipment and its performance in various conditions. Before they all left, we even had a few good laughs. When the onlookers realized that it was just a non-event and I was not going to be apprehended and handcuffed, they lost interest and slowly dispersed.

Now comes the shocking part: The 911 call was for Aleksey!

911 was called but the help never arrived!!!  Luckily, just as in my case, no help was needed! That lucky dog swam back to shore in peace and tranquility with no stress, commotion, or public embarrassment awaiting. He just called it a good session, and went home with absolutely no knowledge of any of the brouhaha. As a matter of fact, if it hadn’t been for a fluke coincidence two days later, nobody would ever have realized that there was a major communications breakdown somewhere along the chain of command. Even worse, had Aleksey died of hypothermia, no one would ever have known that there was a kind and gentle soul who saw his struggle and genuinely tried to help. With all the effort and with all the goodness in everyone involved, Aleks was still left out there on his own.

This wasn’t a failure of our responding team. This was just an incredible sequence of events that led to an alignment of all the holes in the Swiss cheese. As a matter of fact, I personally believe that Toronto has one of the best and fastest marine response units in Canada and my shoutout and big Thank Yous go to them.

Stay safe everybody, and keep this story in mind! When we are out there in frigid temperatures, we MUST kite only as far as we can self-rescue. Our lives are ultimately only in our hands!

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The Sequence of Events:

According to our Garmin GPS track data, my kite falls in the water at 4:23pm and Aleksey’s kite goes down at 4:26pm. I finish my swim at 4:48pm and Aleksey gets back to shore at 4:54pm.

Meanwhile, there is a lady walking her dog at Rotary Peace Park, 11^th street, just east of the Kipling kite spot and she sees a guy dropping his “sail far from shore”. He is alone in the water, she genuinely worries about his life, and calls 911. Her call must have been placed sometime around 4:28 – 4:30pm. The same lady walked by the Kipling launch site two days later, where I just happened to be standing, watching other people kite. She approached me to tell a story about the guy, her fear for him, and about calling 911! What were the chances?  After our short conversation and clarification of a few details, it slowly dawned on me what might have actually transpired and the real picture slowly started to emerge.

It is my assumption that another 911 call must have arrived at the emergency call center at about the same time, and it was by somebody who saw me “in trouble” at Humber. As we all know how difficult it is to describe a location on open water, the 911 operator might have easily concluded that both of these calls were for the same event! To make things more complicated, based on a later report from one of the firefighters on the beach, there was also some confusion about a small overturned boat with two people possibly drowning. This would explain why the whole response seemed blown out of proportion to me. The responders had to be ready to deal with a small vessel and possibly people trapped underneath. Hence, the heavier-duty fireboat was dispatched as well.

The first emergency vehicle showed up on the beach at Humber Bay Park West at about 4:45pm and the first rescue speedboat reached the shore just a few minutes later. This is how good they are!!! In less than 15 minutes, all the rescue units, land and water, were on the scene ready to help! (The nearest Marine Station is 10 kilometers away).

In the elevator on the way home I asked a young lady: “Did you see the rescue action in the park earlier today?” “Oh yeah, I saw a guy surfing but then he dropped his sail and tried to swim back. He must have been drowning and someone called 911”.

If someone called 911 from their living room quite far away, now I think I understand why the overturned boat confusion. I have a yellow helmet and a yellow board for good visibility. With those two yellow objects bobbing in the water and a dark kite next to them, it might indeed look like an overturned little boat with two people treading water next to it.

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