Three Sooke residents had a scary, on-water mishap, after the motor on their boat stopped working around 11 a.m. on Aug. 15.
Sean Ebbs-Canavan, Dennis Price and his young son, Jack, were turning in after a day out fishing around when they realized the pump and motor on their 18-foot fishing boat was not functioning.
“The boat was taking on water really fast, and we realized the pump wasn’t working. My partner went to check the motor and the engine went down on his finger and crushed his finger,” Price said.
Despite suffering from severe cuts and possibly broken finger, the owner of the boat, Ebbs-Canavan, manoeuvred the vessel with the kicker to a sandy beach on East Sooke.
“It was actually quite well done,” Price said.
Waiting ashore, Price and his son were picked up by the Sooke Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue and brought to the Station 37 behind the Prestige Oceanfront Resort.
Ebbs-Canavan, who refused medical treatment, waited with the beached boat for a charger to be delivered by the RCM-SAR.
The fishing trip was the first of the summer for Price and his son, who said the only thing they could think of was returning to land.
“We just had to make our way into shore pretty fast, because we were out there pretty far and we were filing up pretty fast,” Price said. “We got a little bit of a scare out there.”
The RCMP also attended the incident by boat, along with a military helicopter.