By Curtis Rush
Toronto Star
Copyright 2008 Toronto Star
TORONTO — An 18-year-old Toronto man is lucky to be alive today after a pedal boat misadventure on Lake Simcoe following an all night party.
He is is facing several charges in the incident, which also led to the sinking of a rescue airboat with four volunteer firefighters aboard.
Nobody was hurt in the situation which began at about 8:30 am Sunday morning when the man left a party on Grandview Crescent in Oro-Medonte Township, between Barrie and Orillia.
“He’s lucky to be ashore,” said Oro-Medonte fire chief Scott Cowden.
Police say the man’s friends tried to stop him from taking the boat out onto the lake where strong winds had created a steep chop. The air temperature was about 2C and the water temperature was 5.6C.
The man, who wasn’t wearing a life jacket, fumbled for control of the craft and was carried out into the lake where waves were a metre high.
Friends called the Barrie OPP, who spotted him about 900 metres off shore.
While the four volunteer firefighters set out to make the rescue, the OPP Launch, which normally patrols Lake Simcoe, set out from Orillia.
Just as the firefighters were pulling the man into their boat, a large wave overwhelmed the boat, which sank about 1,500 metres off shore.
However, the OPP boat arrived within about five minutes and pulled everyone aboard.
Oro-Medonte fire chief Cowden says his firefighters were wearing floatation style survival suits and were unhurt.
Cowden spent Monday morning trying to organize a salvage mission for Oro-Medonte’s only air boat, which lies in 30 metres of water.
“We’ve lost what was the original rescue boat on Lake Simcoe,” Cowden said. “That boat did both ice and water rescue.”
He said the boat has a replacement cost of about $135,000.
“For a volunteer fire department, it’s a prohibitive cost to get back in the business. It was a fundraising project by the local Lions Club and the volunteer firefighters’ association about 15 years ago. I’m sorry to see it come to such an end. But I guess it went out doing the job it was designed to do.”
Cowden believes the rough waves, not any fault of the boat or firefighters, caused the capsize.
“We’ve used the boat for well over 10 years now and it’s given us good service. The water gets rough enough and it starts coming over pretty quickly,” Cowden said.
Nicholas Borgers is facing several charges, including offences under the Canadian Shipping Act, Liquor Licence Act and the Criminal Code.
He has a court appearance in Barrie June 9.